Megaman: Shadows of the Stars
by Megaman Trigger 2.0
Summary: Book 1 in the Shadow Star series. The next great netbattle tournament has begun, and Lan and Megaman are in attendance. But as the battles go on a dark figure seems to be watching Lan and friends closely...too closely...
1. Chapter 1: A Humorous Start

Shadows of the night where cast all across Netopia. Light from thousands of cars, buildings, and neon screens could be seen from far above, even as far above as the large white jet flying over the city of Delroa. Delroa, a wonderful city deep in the heart of Netopia, tall skyscrapers covered it, as did the many roads that stretched its length. In the center of the wonderful city was a large clock tower that stretched far into the sky.

But our focus is not the city, no…our focus is the plane that flies over it.

The plane, looking normal on the outside, was actually a very special plane. On the outside was a simple symbol, a large red DA was written in large cursive letters over a large silver star. The plane soared high over the city, speeding through it while its passengers, two men and three women, sat silently in their chairs.

The inside of the plane was not like a plane you would see at an airport. This plane had dark red carpet all throughout with an almost rustic red paint on the inside. The area where the people were seated was a large conference table, five chairs surrounded the table, one at the head and two on each side. A man in a dark black suit sat at the head of the table talking to the people around him, a dark smile on his face.

"Soon all our hard work will pay off. Soon all our planning will come together. As you know, Operation Aero, has been a success so far. All that remains is for us to find the perfect pair to test it on."

A young man on the right side of the table smiled darkly and spoke in a dark tone.

"I know just who to test it on sir…"

"And who might that be?"

"A young man named Lan Hikari, sir, he and his navi are some of the best in Electopia."

The man at the head of the table leaned back in his chair and smiled, crossing his hands in front of him.

"…..Very well then, next stop Electopia….."

With that the pilot seemed to know to veer of course, and quickly the plane veered off to the southwest, leaving the night far behind, awaiting the sunny days awaiting them far away from Delroa deep in the heart of Electopia, directly to Den Tech city…….

* * *

Wind and cold…a signal that the season of winter had plunged into the heart of the world. Wind and rain lapped at the windows and doors of ACDC Elementary school. And inside this school was a group of special children. They were not special in a noticeable way, nor was it a harmful sort of special, but they were in fact quite special in their own respect.

A woman, around the age of twenty to thirty, stood at the head of the room writing on a large computer board. She had long brown hair and wore a purple dress with white trim. The class of twenty students behind her took notes as she wrote the answers for the next day's test on the board…that is…all but one young man.

A young man, about thirteen, sat at a small desk. His head lay on the desk, his eyes shut. He was asleep!

The boy had brown hair that stuck out in places, but rest on his head neatly. He wore a orange vest with black shorts with a green stripe, and on his head sat a blue headband with his family crest on it. A circle cut in four pieces, two colored red, and two colored black.

Sitting on the table, plugged into a small computer screen, was a small device called a PET, or PErsonal Terminal. Inside the PET was a net navi, a sort of program that acted much like regular people and was a sort of friend to the young man who was asleep.

The net navi wore a blue suit, a body suit as all navis did, and had brown hair. His emerald eyes searched the board at the head of the room for more notes to take. He had blue boots to match his suit, and he had a crest on his chest the same as the boy.

Across from the blue navi was a girl navi in a pink suit. She had long blonde hair, tied with a pink ribbon, and sat staring at the board blankly. On her chest was her own emblem, a red circle with a yellow triangle pointing down.

The navi in blue looked at the girl in pink and began to make a quite "pssstttt" noise too get her attention.

The pink navi quickly pressed a button on the panel of holographic screens before her, and a screen holding her face popped in front of the navi in blue, as one did to the girl of himself.

"Hi Roll." The boy in blue said.

"Hey Megaman…let me guess…Lan's asleep again, huh?" asked the girl in pink.

"….Yeah…I wish he would wake up before Mrs. Mari finds out he is asleep." Said Megaman with a deep sigh.

"….Hey…I have an idea. Mrs. Mari is going to go to the Teachers Lounge, once she leaves turn your volume up to max and scream at Lan to wake him up! I can't wait to see the look on his face when you wake him up!" said Roll with a giggle.

Megaman laughed a little in turn, Lan always was easy to wake up, it just took some effort to figure out how to do it.

Minutes later, just as Roll had said, Mrs. Mari left. So Megaman turned his volume up, and with a great gasp yelled.

"HEY LAN! WAKE UP!"

Everyone turned to look at Lan, and laugh, as he suddenly jumped from the seat, screamed, and fell into the floor.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Lan yelled as he hit the floor, landing in a very uncomfortable position.

Lan quickly glared at his PET, containing Megaman.

"MEGAMAN! WHAT IS THE BIG IDEA, WAKING ME UP LIKE THAT!?"

Megaman was laughing so hard his sides began to hurt, everyone else had laughed as well, including Roll.

"Hahaha….sorry Lan, but you slept through all of Mrs. Mari's lesson on Algebra, you really need to learn to go to bed on time during weekdays." Said Megaman, trying to catch his breath from his laugh.

A girl, one row ahead of where Lan sat, wearing a light blue dress with pink hair was giggling uncontrollably, her navi Roll giggling with her.

Lan turned to look at Maylu.

"MAYLU! Did you tell Megaman to do that!?" Lan cried, still slightly confused as to why he had suddenly been yelled into the world of the living.

Maylu giggled some more as she spoke.

"Hmhmhm…no Lan, Roll did that." she said in a sweet tone.

Just then the door suddenly came open and Mrs. Mari stuck her head in and put her finger to her lips.

"LAN HIKARI! SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET!" Mrs. Mari bellowed. Lan complied and sat down, muttering to himself what he was going to tell Roll.

"Yes Mrs. Mari……" Lan said in a defeated voice.

Thus begins our story, a story of peace, terror, mystery, and love.


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to Star Hill

The Net was filled with activity. Today was the first day of the Cyber Winter, the Net's version of the season of winter, which meant that Christmas, and the Festival of Stars, were soon to come to the land. Hundreds of navis, all wearing uniforms, ran about the Net areas of Den Tech and ACDC, all trying to get everything ready for the festival.

Large decorations that had been placed for fall were being taken down and decorations for winter were being put up. This meant that it was one week until the Star Festival, which was the one day when the Net and the real world were allowed to converge. Thanks to Dr. Hikari's great advancements in Cyber Technology, and the help of the new prototype system called Copy Bots, the Net Navis could be brought out into the real world, which meant that navi and operator could spend the festival directly together.

Megaman stood in the center of ACDC Area2; all around him people were working to get the Star Festival ready. On the last Star Festival the Star Rain was obstructed by a storm that pulled into the area, blocking the view of the stars. But this time would be different, Megaman knew it! And Megaman was excited; it would be his first Star Festival! The Star Festival had only been celebrated twice since now, once the storm came in, and the other time Megaman and Lan were overseas on a trip with their dad.

But first would come Christmas, one of Megaman's favorite holidays. Christmas was a great time, as many people know; where friends and family gave each other gifts and celebrated being together and the spirit of giving to others. And Megaman couldn't wait for that day. Simply because everyone, Roll, Maylu, Lan, Dr. Hikari, Mrs. Hikari, Dex, Gutsman, Yai, Glyde, and sometimes Chaud and Protoman, would all get together and exchange gifts.

Suddenly Megaman heard someone call his name, turning quickly he saw Roll standing over at the side of the area waving at him. Megaman quickly, yet carefully, maneuvered past all the people and equipment, and came to stand next to Roll.

"Hey Roll. I thought you and Maylu were going shopping for more Christmas stuff." Megaman said with a smile, glad to see his friend.

"We are, I just wanted to say hi before we left."

Megaman smiled at Roll and they looked around as the many people all hurried about getting things ready for the Star Festival. One particular navi, a white navi with red boots and helmet, was running by carrying a large Cyber Tree.

"So have you already gotten a gift for the others?" Megaman asked as he watched the people rush by with the large Cyber Tree over their heads.

"Yeah…" Roll said trailing off, as if something was wrong.

Megaman was about to ask if there was something wrong when a large screen overhead flickered into life. On it was a navi doing a sort of commercial.

"Attention people of Cyber World! We, of Dark Aero, would like to invite you all to the new net area called Star Hill! We have worked long and hard to help supply you all with your new PET upgrades, as well as many different devices and electronic goods. And now, with help of SciLabs, we have created and opened a new net area! But this is no normal Net Area; it is completely devoted to the four seasons of the world. Please, one and all come and see the wonderful world of stars! Come to Star Hill!"

With that the screen died away and Megaman looked back at Roll.

"Dark Aero…if I remember right, they have been working with SciLabs to construct a device to allow humans to enter the Cyber World…I think they also made that latest upgrade system that Lan got last week."

Roll smiled.

"Well I guess it would be nice to have a new net area, let's go!"

Megaman looked confused.

"But what about you and Maylu shopping!?"

"Ah it can wait a few more hours! Come on Mega, let's go!" Roll yelled as she began to run off.

Megaman sighed and ran after her. "ROLL! WAIT!"

* * *

Lan was standing in the center of the Den Tech City Shopping District, watching as people all around him ran about shopping and finishing business in town. Maylu had sent him and e-mail telling him to go to the shopping district and wait for her, Roll and Megaman were going to the new net area and Maylu wanted to go there with Lan.

In the real world Star Hill was an actual mountain, the tallest in the entire region and it reached high into the sky. It was named Star Hill because each time there would be a Meteor Shower, or Star Rain as everyone had began to call it, the mountain was struck by these stars. Hundreds of them seemed to crash into the mountain and bounce along their merry way, at the top of the mountain was a large observatory, created by SciLabs, used to monitor the stars.

Lan was growing impatient, Maylu was taking a long time. The he heard someone yelling to him, Lan turned toward the bus station to see Maylu waving her arms at him. Lan smiled and ran through the crowd to his friend.

Maylu smiled. "Hey Lan, I'm surprised you got here before me." Maylu said with a giggle.

Lan grinned. "Well I was already here in town, Megaman and I were going to go watch them put the big Christmas tree up in the Square."

Maylu smiled and motioned to the bus that was sitting at the stop, this was no ordinary bus. It was a SkyLine, as it had been named by Dr. Hikari. SciLabs and Dark Aero had teamed up about a year back and created a long line of systems, PET items, and other helpful machines. One of which was the SkyLine, a airborne metro line. It was a large silver pod that held many other cars attached to it; there was a large line of blue energy above and below the train. A hook on the top of each car attached it to the energy beam above, while the bottom of the pod rested on the bottom line of energy. The energy would send surges of power into the systems and send it forward in a slow gentle pace, which quickened as more power was stored in the machine.

Lan and Maylu climbed inside the SkyLine and handed their money to the attendant who showed them their seats. Not long after sitting down the SkyLine started moving, a large mountain loomed far beyond in the blue mists of noon, Star Hill.


	3. Chapter 3: “Tournament?”

Megaman and Roll ran into the net area of Star Hill 1. Both navis stopped and looked around in amazement. The ground was a path of what seemed to be a rainbow colored dust. Blackness surrounded them, but in the blackness were thousands of stars twinkling a rainbow of colors as well. Large stars moved overhead, each one a different color of the rainbow.

All around them people wearing white and black suits walked, helping other navis with directions. Roll gasped and pointed toward a small area that she saw ahead.

The pathway led to a large square, and in the center was a sky blue fountain that poured forth some of the clearest water the navis had ever seen. And all around the fountain were….dancing stars?

Small different colored stars were dancing around the fountain, each one smiling and singing a happy tune. Near them stood a man in an all white suit.

"Ah, hello! Welcome to Star Hill!" said the man to Megaman and Roll.

"Hello. Um…what are these things?" Megaman asked, gesturing to the stars.

"Those, happy little things, are a special kind of program that resembles stars. We called them Storas, they are only allowed to stay here at Star Hill. Their job is to help people who come here, and to keep the area free of viruses."

Roll giggled as one of them floated over to her and danced around her.

"Hahahaha…it seems that it likes you. Storas are very friendly, and love to dance. Dr. Hikari thought that they would make a nice addition to the area."

Megaman smiled as Roll bent down and picked up the little star.

"So what is so special about this area?" Megaman asked turning to the man once more.

"Star Hill was created as a gathering place for all navis. Here we do not judge you on your power, speed, attitude, color, or even walks of life. Here all navis and operators are equal, from the strongest warrior to the weakest child. Even those from the dark parts of the net are allowed here!"

Megaman was shocked to hear that people from the Undernet would be allowed in such a light filled place, but if the police thought they could handle the Undernet residence than good luck.

"The path to the right leads to the Observatory server, which is the homepage for the Star Hill Observatory. The path to the left leads to a large marketplace area, and this path behind me is off limits, for now…"

Roll put the Storas down and stood beside Megaman. "Where does it lead to?" she asked after a moment.

"It will soon lead to a large Net Battle arena where the Shadow of the Stars Tournament will be held."

Lan and Maylu had reached the Observatory at this moment and Lan suddenly pulled out his PET.

"Tournament!?" Lan cried, his voice being heard by the man, Roll, and Megaman all.

The man chuckled and smiled.

"Yes, Dark Aero has created a new chip system, the Control System, and whoever wins the Shadow of the Stars Tournament will be given the first ever Control System."

Megaman smiled, he knew that Lan would sign up, Lan loved tournaments.

"So what is this Control System?"

"The Control System is a breakthrough system, developed by Dr. Hikari and Dark Aero. It is a simple program installed into your navi and PET, with it your navi will be able to call on the powers of the objects around them. For example, say that a part of the net is on fire. Using this ability you could use the fire, become aligned to the fire element, and be able to control fire with your powers. As long as you were around a source of fire you could use the fire, throw fire balls, create weapons of fire, put out fire, set fires, all sorts of things. The same goes for all things, let's say that you need to get somewhere fast, but there is a gap in the net between the areas. You could use the Control System to draw on the power of earth to create a new pathway."

Lan and Megaman both smiled in unison and said, "Wow! That sounds like it would be really great to have!"

Roll and Maylu giggled.

"Boys and their net battles…let me guess Lan, you're going to enter." Maylu said with a roll of her eyes.

Lan smiled and tried to look tough as his smile turned into a grin. "Of course!"

The navi chuckled again and smiled.

"If you would like to enter just tell me your names, navi and operator."

Megaman smiled and looked at Roll, who nodded in approval, as if to say _go ahead, it'll be fun!_

"Operator is Lan Hikari, navi is Megaman EXE." Megaman said with a smile.

The man took a moment to process the information and then smiled.

"Alright. You will be sent an e-mail the day before the tournament begins. Be sure to train hard, and be ready in about a week for the tournament to start!"

Then Maylu suddenly gasped, looking at the time on her PET.

"OH NO! ROLL! If we don't hurry we'll be late!" Maylu yelled.

Roll smiled. "Alright, I'm jacking out….bye Mega…." Roll said with a giggle as she waved Megaman goodbye.

Lan turned to Maylu. "What is it?"

"I have to hurry to the store! I have a gift there to be picked up! See ya Lan!" Maylu yelled as she ran down the path and got back inside the SkyLine and was gone.

Megaman chuckled. "Well I guess I'll take a look around the area, ok Lan."

With that Megaman waved goodbye to the man and ran off down the road. The man waved goodbye, but as soon as Megaman left his smile fell to a frown.

"……Perfect….now not only do we have Lan Hikari in our trap, but his little navi Megaman…..this will be perfect. I should go inform base about this! It's time for the next stage in our plans to be revealed "

With that the man was gone in a burst on energy, leaving the small Storas to dance around the area as more navis filled the area. Star Hill may have been shining bright with light, but something dark was hidden deep in its glittering peace….


	4. Chapter 4: Enter Tyrell and Demonman

"People of Cyber World, it is my pleasure to welcome you all to the Shadow of the Stars Tournament! My name is Reaino, and I will be your director of operations for the duration of this tournament!"

The crowd cheered. The large tournament stadium in the real world was packed with operators, net battle fans, family, and friends of the players; and far above everyone sitting in a darkly lit skybox were two men, one human and, his figure showing on a large screen, his navi.

Lan Hikari stood in a large waiting room; all around him were other operators with their navis with them. A large screen overhead showed different matchups of operators, the battles that were to come. Around Lan stood four other operators. Three of them were girls, the other was a male. All around the room where other operators, but these four seemed…strange to Lan. They seemed to be…watching him.

One girl, around 11 years old, stood near a table. She had on a dark blue dress with black boots. Her hair was blonde and pulled into two ponytails bound by two purple ribbons. She had two beautiful light blue eyes. Near her was an older man.

The man was about 18 and wore green trousers, a grey jacket with a strange red demonic sign on the back. He had short brown hair at has a scar across his right eyebrow that ran down to the middle of his eye lid. The eye was a pale white color, while his other eye was a strange purple color.

Across the room from them were two other girls. Both girls were about 14. One girl wore a green t-shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of white shoes. She had long black curling hair with a green headband on her head.

The girl near her had black hair tied in a ponytail, she wore black jeans and black shoes, and she wore a red shirt under a black jacket with silver buttons and clips. She, the most out of them all, didn't look thrilled to be there.

Lan turned, glanced at them all, and heard a voice as he turned back around, it belonged to the man in green.

"So…you must be Lan Hikari, correct?" Lan turned and smile.

"Yes, that's me."

This time the little girl in blue spoke, giggling as she started her sentence. "We hear that you're a powerful Net battler. But I bet your not as powerful as my brother!"

The man in green looked at her with a smile. "Now, now, Mei. Let's not say that, I'm just as good as half the people here."

Mei, the name of the little girl, looked at her brother and frowned. "Why don't you do a quick battle? Just as a sample fight, besides you two will be going up in the first round. Why not get acquainted with each other's battle styles now?"

The other three girls all giggled. "Mei's right Tyrell, as usual." Said the girl in the black jacket.

Tyrell looked at Lan and sighed. Then Megaman spoke up. "Come on Lan! It'll be fun! Besides we aren't due to battle for at least another hour or so while the introductions and preparations are made for the tournament to begin. Just one quick fight, besides I know you're bored." Megaman said chuckling, which as usual, he was right. Lan was bored, he hated waiting.

"Sure, as long as it's alright with you." Lan said. Megaman nodded and Lan smiled at Tyrell who then walked to the center of the room, where a large table with a hologram projector was setup. The girls motioned for everyone to back away and Lan stood on one end of the table as Tyrell stood on the other.

Mei giggled again as she spoke. "No offense Lan, but we're rooting for Tyrell." She said, speaking of her and the other four girls. All the girls nodded and smiled, Tyrell looked at Lan with a grin and spoke in a gentle tone.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

With that Lan cried out the usual statement he always did as he jacked in. "Jack in, Megaman!"

Tyrell, at the same time cried, "Jack in, Demonman!"

In the cyber world there was a flash of blue light as Megaman ported into the world. His mask was drawn over his mouth and nose, ready for a fight. Another flash of light filled the area as a black beam pounded into the ground, revealing a darkly colored navi.

His bodysuit was of the darkest grey, his helmet bore two red horns, and a pair of red wings fluttered aimlessly on his back. His hands and shoes were grey and pointed into sharp green points, as if his hands themselves were knives. His chest was covered with green armored breastplate that he wore over his grey bodysuit, which bore the same symbol that was on Tyrell's jacket. But most amazingly of all, his face had no skin. It was just a black hole in his helmet, taking the space where his head should have been. A black steam seemed to billow slowly from him as he breathed and spoke, his two flame red eyes sat like orbs in a sea of darkness that was his head.

Demonman bowed to Megaman in a courtly gesture and looked him up and down.

"So, you are Megaman…I pictured you…older." Demonman said in a dark voice his mouth revealing it to be blue on the inside, and poring forth the black steam.

"Nice to meet you Demonman." Megaman said with a bow as well.

Tyrell looked at Lan and smiled, his purple eye seemed to shine with a sort of sparkle that wasn't there before they jacked in.

"Ready Lan, you may have the first move." Tyrell said.

"Thank you." Lan said…and the battle began.

In the cyber world large floating platforms suddenly ported in and raised, lowered, drifted left, right, diagonal, and large walls shot up and lowered. The terrain was set, the battlers where ready. So begins the battle.

--------------------------------------------AUTHOR NOTICE!--------------------------------------------

_**(Author Note!!!!!!)**_

_**AN: Since so many people love a good action scene, this fic will hold many long and eventful battle scenes. So right now! Go get something to drink, do any last minute business, get a snack, and get ready for the first battle scene of the story, soon to be followed by MANY others.**_

_**Thank you, Megaman Trigger 2.0**_

----------------------------------------BATTLE SEQUENCE!----------------------------------------

Demonman smiled darkly and watched as Megaman made the first move.

Megaman, with a burst of speed, jumped toward one of the moving platforms behind him, riding it up. He then aimed his buster at Demonman and fired, Demonman quickly flipped backward and landed on his own platform. Riding it up he made a motion with his hands, which revealed his weapon, two very large axes.

One axe was bond to his right hand, the other was on a large chain wrapped around his waist, back, and left arm. With great force he thrust the throwing axe forward and released the chain. The axe sped toward Megaman, who slid away and fired shots as he went by.

Yanking the chain, backward Demonman spun it over his head and threw it toward Megaman. Megaman's shots hit Demonman's chest and pushed him back, put only by a few centimeters. Megaman frowned and fired again. Suddenly the axe flipped toward him.

Megaman yelped and ducked just as the axe flipped over his head, but the axe was coming back. Megaman jumped, trying to avoid the axe, but was struck in the leg by the back end of the weapon, causing a small sputter of data to flow out from the wound.

Tyrell grinned as Mei clapped her hands, bouncing up and down nearby her brother. "YEAH! GO BIG BROTHER!" This was followed by everyone else clapping, rooting for Tyrell and for Lan.

Megaman knew that his buster wouldn't work alone to destroy Demonman. Quickly he nodded to Lan, who knew what to do immediately.

Lan grabbed a chip from his pack and slipped it into his PET.

"WindSword battle chip in!" Megaman grinned as his right arm suddenly burst apart into flakes of data and reassembled itself in the shape of a large, long, emerald green sword. His left arm then burst away and returned as a dark green shield.

Demonman jumped down from his platform, letting his wings guide him down. Megaman took this as his chance to strike. Slashing his hand down toward the floor a wave of green wind energy blasted through the air, cutting through everything like a hot knife through butter.

The blast slammed into Demonman, who at first didn't notice it. Then as he began to move forward his right arm sparked and spit data, his arm had been severely cut by the sword's energy. To fight back Demonman quickly swung his axe toward Megaman, who dodged it and, using his sword, sliced the blade tip into the center of one of the chain links.

The axe stopped moving and Demonman almost cursed, Megaman took the blade and quickly shattered the upper part of the chain holding the axe. The axe bounced onto the ground and Demonman smiled, bowed, and spoke.

"Nice job Megaman…but I'm not done yet!" Demonman said as he jumped at the navi, trying to hit him with his axe.

Megaman parried the blow with his sword and pushed Demonman backward. Now that he was momentarily stunned Megaman took his blade and quickly cut at his legs and arms before slicing upward in a jump.

Demonman cursed as a flow of data seeped from his body. He fell to one knee and knelt on the ground as he began to fade away.

Tyrell's smile fell to a frown. He glared from Lan to Megaman and with a smile of sympathy jacked his navi out of the battle system. Megaman smiled and jacked out as well as Lan looked at Tyrell with a smile. All around there was cheering from the other tournament participants, except the four girls.

"….You are as good as I have heard." Tyrell said.

Mei walked over to her brother and hugged onto him. "It's ok big brother, you did your best. Besides it was fun!"

Tyrell smiled at his sister and they turned and smiled at Lan as they walked out of the room. Soon followed by the other girls, but not before the one in the green shirt turned back to Lan and smiled.

Once outside Tyrell and the others stood in the hall and spoke.

"Lan Hikari is just as powerful as Master said. What should we do? If we where to fight him, there's no way we could win!" said Mei.

"Don't worry. Lan will not defeat us! He can't….can he Lucia?" Tyrell asked, looking to the girl in green.

"R-Right…" she said, not expecting the question to be directed at her.

Then the group noticed that someone was watching them, a man in a black uniform with a silver star, with a green streak trailing behind it on his chest. His hat, much like a police hat bearing a smaller version of the symbol, was pushed far down on his head. His black gloved hands made him look like some sort of black void instead of a man, for all but his face was black.

"The Director wants to see you." Said the man.

Tyrell nodded to his group and walked away.

"….All of you…." The man finished said as Tyrell opened the door to leave. Everyone stared at each other for a moment and gulped down a swallow of fear as they all walked on to go and see the Director of the Shadows of the Stars Tournament…also known as their boss.


	5. Chapter 5: A Meeting with the Director

Tyrell, Mei, Lucia, and the last girl named Ambika, all walked into the large skybox room of the tournament arena. A large rug bearing the same symbol that the man had on his uniform sat in the floor. A silver metallic desk sat in the center of it, overlooking the arena below from the large glass wall. The room was dark, the rug a deep red and the wall a dark crimson brick. Plants sat at all corners of the room along with paintings and statues that covered every area that could be touched.

The only way into the skybox was through the elevator, three security patrols, and two search booths. The head of the Shadows of the Stars tournament was a very powerful man and a very wealthy man as well. The group had walked this way, and went through all search protocols, and now stood inside the skybox itself.

Two guards, in the same uniforms as before, stood at the door, two more stood at the wall of glass, and the Director, as he was called, sat at his desk drinking a steaming cup of tea, as he always did. The guards all held large guns in their hands, but the question stood…why would guards of security have guns in a simple net battle tournament?

Tyrell and the others all walked to the center of the room and stopped. The Director smiled over his cup and snapped his fingers. The guards all turned grabbed chairs from a stack on the wall, set a chair in the center of the room for the visitors, and in turn marched out.

The Director, being only forty years of age, had surprising streaks of grey hair dashing across his brown hair. The hair was neatly trimmed and settled on his head neatly. His right eye was an amber color, his left eye green. A tidy black suit and brown tie he wore along with a pair of black dress shoes and black gloves. His eyes, as they always did, looked tired, and held a dark gaze upon his guests.

An eerie silence filled all of the room, the only sound being that of the Director drinking his tea. Once he had finished the cup he placed it on the coaster and rose to meet his guests. Once the guests sat, so did the Director.

"Ah, good, I was beginning to wonder when you would arrive. I sent for you over an hour ago." The Director said, his stern voice sending a chill through all the people in the room's spines.

"Please forgive us Director, we where late because-" Tyrell began.

"Silence! I did not say you could speak!" The Director bellowed as he glared at Tyrell.

The room once again became quite and the Director stood from his chair. After walking to the back of the room, pressing a button, and returning to his seat he spoke.

"Now. As you all know, the Operation Iblis is a success so far. Soon the tournament will begin, in about an hour in fact, and when it does I have special directives for you all."

Tyrell, being the oldest there spoke. "We are ready to serve sir."

"Good, good…because I have a target for you." The Director pressed a button on his desk and a screen holding a picture of a young man and a navi flickered into life overhead.

"This boy you see here is Lan Hikari, son of Dr. Yuchihiro Hikari, one of the best scientists in the entire world. The navi belongs to Lan, Megaman EXE one of the most powerful navis in this tournament. They are key pieces in this little game of chess, and I must have them disposed of. If they are to interfere things may become…fluxed, for lack of a better word if you will."

Tyrell nodded. "Lan and I had a little battle…he is quite skilled. Not many have defeated Demonman with as much ease as Megaman did. He did it as though it was nothing!"

The Director nodded and turned his seat to face the large window. A dark smile covered his face. The Director pressed a button on his desk and a large screen flashed into life hanging in mid air.

"Yes Director?" asked a man in a white suit with a red tie.

"Mr. Dmitri, could you please ask Lan Hikari to come to my office." With that the screen flashed away and the Director turned to the others, "You are dismissed."

Everyone stood and in turn left the office via the elevator. As they exited the elevator as it came to a stop, Lan Hikari walked inside it, nodding at the group as they walked away.

A few moments later the doors of the elevator opened and the Director stood in front of his desk looking at Lan with a slight smile. Lan stepped forward and noticed that the Director had his hand extended in greeting. Lan shook his hand and the director motioned to a red velvet chair that had somehow been brought into the room.

"Welcome Mr. Hikari, thank you for coming to see me on such short notice." Said the Director as he sat down in his own chair.

Lan smiled as he sat in his chair, "I guess I should say thank you, for letting me be in the tournament." Lan said with a smile.

The Director took a drink from his cup and chuckled. "Oh, but the thanks should go to you Lan. You and Megaman are some of the strongest Net Battlers in the world; I am honored to have you in the tournament. But I should warn you Lan, I am betting against you in the long run."

Lan smiled. "Well thank you Director, I guess we'll just have to see how strong some of these other battlers are." Lan said chuckling.

The Director smiled and stood. "I am sure you will do quite well on your own, however…I would like to give you something." The Director said as he extended a gloved hand. In the hand was a small chip with a picture of a gold key on it.

"Oh…uh…thank you. But, what does it do?" Lan asked as he took the chip.

"It is a very special chip, one that was made especially for my navi, it allows your navi to use a sort of X-ray machine that can pinpoint and lock on to your opponents specific weak points. Then when you fire a weapon, no matter where you aim, it will lock onto the weakest area and strike. However it won't work if you use things such as swords."

Megaman smiled and a small sparkle shone in his eyes. "Thank you Director!"

The Director chuckled and shook Lan's hand.

"Good luck."

"ATTENTION ALL TOURNAMENT PARTICIPANTS. THE TOURNAMENT WILL BEGIN IN TWENTY MINUTES! WOULD EVERYONE PLEASE GO TO THE PREPERATION ROOM!" announced a loud speaker, followed by a roar of applause from the audience of the tournament.

Lan smiled and ran back to the elevator, pressing the button to descend. The Director's smile faded as soon as Lan was gone. He pressed a button on his desk and the screen returned again, this time Demonman and Tyrell were on the screen.

"Begin the operation."

Tyrell smiled. "As you wish Director."


	6. Chapter 6: The Ivory Feathered Knight

Lan sat in the same waiting room as before, nervously staring at the large television screen mounted on the wall, this screen showed all the tournament participants and their matchups. Lan was set to go in the second battle, so for now he was safe.

The first battle was about to begin, and tensions where high. A young man, not much older than Lan, was going to be up against Tyrell in the first fight. Tyrell stood, leaning against the wall, his opponent, named Zack, was going over his strategy with his navi on the opposite end of the room.

Megaman was sitting in the waiting room's net area, which consisted of a large green and blue tiled room with a large table in the center. Many navis where around the table, talking of past battles and even giving their opponents tips on certain chip abilities, but Megaman wasn't.

Megaman sat on a simple bench thinking over his own battle strategy when there was a loud horn blare over the speakers. Lan and Megaman both jumped up as did many other participants who had been caught off guard.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN THE FIRST BATTLE, TYRELL VS ZACK, IS ABOUT TO BEGIN. WOULD THE PARTICIPANTS PLEASE GO TO THE ARENA FLOOR!"

Tyrell lifted himself off the wall and walked toward the door, Zack, shakily, did the same. As Tyrell walked by, passing where Lan sat, Lan whispered. "Good luck."

Tyrell smirked, and walked through the door and out onto the arena floor. After walking through the door Tyrell and Zack stepped onto a large elevator which slowly took them up to the actual battle area, which consisted of a large metal walkway with two platforms on each end, sitting in the center was the large computer terminal, awaiting the participants to begin their battle. Above the stage was a large screen showing a live feed of the stage.

As the participants rose up onto the stage the crowd's applause grew, clearly everyone was ready for the first battle of the tournament. Tyrell and Zack both turned and waved at all sides of the crowd. Reaino, who wore the same uniform as the guard but the streak on his star, was a rainbow of colors instead of just green, placed a hand on both of the men's shoulders.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today marks the beginning of the Shadow of the Stars tournament. Today marks the beginning of not only the start of a great battle, but also the start of someone's legacy as the Guardian of Stars, the highest rank that can go to the winner of the tournament."

"So please, everyone, please draw your attention to the screen above us."

The screen above the stage flickered into life and changed from the stage view to the view of the inside of the skybox, the Directors face filled the screen.

"Hello everyone, I am the Director of this tournament Abbadon. I can't wait to watch how all of you fair in the tournament and I have high hopes for you all. Now…as the Director of the tournament, I would like everyone to help me in saying…."

Suddenly the whole crowd stood and yelled in time with the Director, "May the tournament BEGIN!"

Tyrell walked to the left platform, Zack to the Right, and they stood facing one another over the large terminal. Lan, still sitting in the waiting room looked on nervously, though he had been in tournaments before he could tell that this one was…different.

Tyrell removed the cord from his PET, as did Zack, and they both stood at the ready.

Reaino stepped to the bottom center of the stage, below the terminal.

"Now, the rules are simple. The first operator and navi to delete his or her opponent wins! Now I want a fair fight! Tyrell…Zack…best of luck….now…JACK IN!"

Tyrell smirked as he looked at Zack. "Demonman, Jack-In!"

"Crain, Jack-In!" Zack yelled.

Both plugged their PET's up and the screen overhead and the terminal field flashed into life revealing a large green and red tiled floor. In the center of the field was the large silver star with a beam of streaks around in, each one in a different color.

Demonman stared down his opponent, a navi wearing all white armor with gold trimmed boots and gloves. He had white hair that came down to his left eye that lay under a helmet of white with the same gold trim as his boots and gloves. In the center of the helmet was a black crystal in the shape of a dove, and two almost wing-like blades protruded from the tops of his helmet. His symbol, a blue background with a white dove on it, sat in the center of his chest. In his hand he carried a simple cane with the same dove atop it. The cane was pitch black with a gold point on the end.

Demonman smirked and crossed his arms.

"This is going to be fun…"

Crain held the cane in front of him and smiled.

"I am ready when you are Zack."

The crowd grew wilder, waiting for the fight to begin. Lan stood and stared at the screen, Megaman watched Tyrell and Demonman close, for he knew soon they would get to have a rematch.

Reaino smiled and yelled out to the crowd.

"LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!"

And in the darkly lit skybox the Director sat in his chair watching the field from the window, on a the screen hanging from the ceiling was a dark silhouette of a navi, two glowing red eyes glared out the window and watched his master as well as the battlefield.

"…..Let it begin….."

* * *

Demonman and Crain bowed to one another before readying for battle. Quickly Crain moved backward from Demonman, waiting for the attack to begin. Demonman however remained stationary and simply stared at Crain.

Crain, who seemed to have much grace, circled around Demonman as he remained stationary, but Crain knew that there must have been an attack waiting to come forth from the navi.

Demonman smiled darkly and quickly jumped into the air and grunted as he threw one of his axes at Crain. The axe, bound to the navis hand by a length of chain, spiraled straight for Crain, who quickly ducked and slid to the right, missing the axe that had been thrown at him.

But Demonman had expected his opponent to dodge, and as such quickly jerked on the chain. The axe returned to him, and Demonman grunted as he threw his axe yet again. This time Crain stood in place, and just as the axe was about to reach him he suddenly dashed to the right.

He was gone! A blur of white and gold was all the crowd saw! Cheers emitted from the crowd, Crain was certainly a fast navi. The blur of white circled around toward Demonman, who was trying to recollected his axe and didn't have the time to block the blow as it hit his back.

Crain had dashed around clockwise on the battlefield, and now stood behind Demonman, and with a quick flick of his wrist, had drawn a large ivory sword from his cane and slashed at Demonman's back. Demonman groaned, but he didn't stay in shock from the blow for long. Quickly Demonman spun around, and using his large boots, kicked into Crain's chest.

Crain was blown backward; it was like a wall of stone had just smashed into his chest! Demonman was quite powerful. Quickly Crain regained himself and jumped into the air and quickly dashed downward, straight toward Demonman.

Tyrell yelled out and pulled a battle chip from a small case on his hip. Quickly he inserted the chip while calling out its name for everyone to know.

"Thunder Axe, battle chip IN!"

As soon as the chip had been inserted into the PET, Demonman's right arm glowed and the axe shifted shapes into a larger axe colored in black and yellow. Volts of electrical power surged across the axe, and quickly Demonman flung the weapon into the air, right into a collision course with Crain.

Crain's flight suddenly stopped as the axe hit him and he hung in midair like some sort of cheap Halloween ghost. Screaming in pain the volts of electrical power surged over his body and caused lightning to arch over his body and he fell to the ground with a thud.

The crowd gasped, the battle couldn't be over yet!?

"Crain!" Zack yelled in shock that his navi could have been hit so hard, as he had been moving so fast.

Demonman and Tyrell smirked as the navi still lay on the ground.

"Hmhmhm….that was too easy…" Demonman laughed cockily.

But a voice spoke, which caused the crowd to cheer and Demonman and Tyrell to jump back into action. "I-I'm n-not done yet!"

Slowly Crain stood from the floor, pushing himself up and groaning as he did so. The axe had hit him hard, a small stream of data flowed from a small wound on his right arm, and small arcs of electricity still bounced across his body.

Zack smiled and quickly pulled out his own chip and inserted it. "Full Recovery chip IN!"

Light danced around Crain's body as the wound was quickly healed and his energy restored. Demonman and Tyrell grunted as it did so; this battle was far from over.

Demonman, who had now lost the power of his Thunder Axe, stood ready to fight as the healing was finished. Tyrell had a plan, and it was time to begin.

Quickly Tyrell inserted another battle chip. "Dark Mist battle chip IN!"

Demonman's smoke that seemed to circle his body suddenly changed from blue to black. The mist poured forth from Demonman's body and seemed to blot out all of the light on the field. Soon both navi's where engulfed in the dark mist. The crowd watched on as the screen was covered in the black mist.

Crain stood engulfed in the mist; it seemed to bite as his body. His entire body seemed to feel like it was on fire, and his sight was gone all he could see was a sea of dark clouds. Suddenly in all the chaos around him he heard a dark, deep, and spine tingling laugh.

"Not so tough now that you can't see, eh?" Demonman said as he laughed darkly, he could see fine in the mist and was slowly moving toward Crain.

Crain opened his eyes again and again, hoping that by blinking the clouds would go away.

Zack knew he had to act quickly, and he inserted yet another chip.

"Crash Bomb battle chip IN!" he cried.

Crain smirked; he knew just what to do. Since he couldn't see his opponent he would listen for him. Crain concentrated his ears, dodging the sounds of cheering from the crowd, and searched for the sounds of footsteps, or breathing, to give away his opponent.

Demonman walked closer and closer still, now only feet away from Crain, he was going in for the kill.

Then Crain heard it, _thunk……thunk……thunk…._, footsteps. Quickly he reacted as he heard the sound of chain clinking; he ducked, and at a good time as well, as a large axe sailed by where his head had been. Quickly repositioning himself he stared toward where the axe had came, a small grenade like object in his hand, and he threw it forward.

Demonman had been taken by surprise, expecting there to have been a target at the end of his axe by now, suddenly a grenade rolled by and tapped into his foot. The last thing he did was curse as a sudden burst of fire and light destroyed the mist and blasted right in the navis face.

Screaming in defeat Demonman suddenly burst into a beam of light himself and felt as his data was slowly ripping apart. He had lost!

The dark mists all blasted forward toward Demonman's body, and once it all had been absorbed in the navi's body he burst into a stream of pure data and was gone. A computerized voice then came over the intercom and spoke slowly.

"Operator Tyrell and navi Demonman deleted….victory goes to operator Zack and navi Crain!"

Crain jumped into the air and shouted, Zack jumped into the air and spun around before landing back and shouting. Tyrell cursed and slammed his hands down on the terminal screaming "NO".

Reaino stepped toward Zack and gestured to him.

"The winner is Zack and Crain! Let give our winners a round of applause everyone!"

The crowd all jumped up and, screaming, whistling, and stomping, applauded to the winners.

"And let's not forget Tyrell and Demonman; let's give them a round of applause for such a great fight!"

Tyrell, still frowning, bowed to the crowd and stepped forward toward Zack. Zack and Tyrell shook hands and the entire crowd exploded into applause.

"All right folks, this ends our first battle! Next up will be Lan Hikari and Megaman against Ambika and her navi Mallory. So make sure your ready for that battle folks, it looks to be a great one!"

The crowd applauded again, but one man wasn't clapping, nor was he smiling, and that was the Director.

The Director stood from his chair and glared down at Tyrell, who had glanced up at his boss and quickly looked away. The Director's eyes seemed to flare with rage. He was so angry his hand holding his cup was actually shaking.

"……..Tyrell……lost….." he whispered.

"It seems he wasn't as good as he himself believed." Said the navi, who still lit up the screen above the Director with his dark red eyes.

"…I see that we are going to need to do a little configuration to our plan…" said the Director to his navi, but he was still staring out the window at the stage as he spoke.

"…Worry not…the operation will succeed without a hitch, it matters not who wins this tournament, as long as Lan and Megaman are present at the ceremony we will succeed!"

The Director slowly took a drink from his cup and sighed.

"….It had better Iblis…..it had better…"


	7. Chapter 7: Shards of a New Millennia

It was late, the sun had set and night had engulfed the entire country of Electopia. Street lights and automatic lights inside buildings flashed into life, cars all turned on their headlights as they drove by, and a slight drizzle of rain had began to fall around the area.

The second battle of the first round would be fought in two days, on Saturday, that way it gave people enough time to rest and check their strategies before the battle began. Tyrell had been called to the Directors office, along with the rest of his group, and Demonman was being repaired. Zack had gone home; he and Crain were celebrating their victory with some friends. All was peaceful at the tournament grounds. People had begun to leave for their own treks home, and Lan Hikari was among those people.

Slowly he walked through the rain, looking at his PET and at Megaman inside.

"Well I know one thing," Megaman said, "this tournament is gonna be hard."

"Yeah," Lan agreed, "Tyrell and Demonman fought really hard. But ya know, it almost looked like they were going easy on Zack and Crain."

"Yeah…you don't think they had planned for Zack and Crain to win already, do you?"

Lan sighed, "I don't think so…but…it seems like they didn't put all their effort into it."

Suddenly Lan stopped dead in his tracks as he heard a female voice cry out to him.

"LAAAAAANNNN!" cried a voice from behind.

Lan turned to see Maylu standing in the crowd, the middle of winter and she still wore her pink skirt and blue jacket over her mint green shirt. But of course Lan still wore his black shorts, even with the wind blowing so hard in winter, but Lan was slightly surprised to see Maylu wearing a scarf around her neck, which was of course pink.

"Hey Maylu." Lan said as Maylu ran over to him.

"Hey Lan, so what do you think of the tournament so far? Do you guys think you can win?" Maylu said as she and Lan began to walk toward the metro line station.

Lan grinned, "Of course we'll win! No one has EVER beaten me and Megaman!"

Megaman smiled shyly, "Uh…Lan…I wouldn't go and boast like that…."

But Lan ignored him and grinned wider. "I bet we'll do just fine, in fact I bet that we could win the whole thing right now."

"Oh do you now Mr. Hikari……" said a voice from behind the group, which startled them all.

Lan and Maylu turned to see the Director standing behind them, wearing the same dark suit as before, an open umbrella was in his hand, his PET, black as night, sat on his hip. The Director was smiling kindly, like a father would to his child.

"O-Oh….Director……uh…." Lan stammered, he had started to turn red. Here he was saying that he could win the whole thing, talking like he was the best in the world, and the head of the whole tournament was standing right behind him.

Maylu giggled, which in turn caused Roll to laugh from within her PET, which caused Megaman to blush. Lan had just embarrassed himself, but also Megaman, and right in front of the Director!

"Hmhmhm…don't worry Lan, it's good for you to think like that. I admire your attitude. You should be proud, you are a very special young man, and you are one of the best Net Battlers in all of Electopia. From what I hear, you two made the WWW navis look like mere toys."

Megaman smiled. "Well I wouldn't say that…they were tough but….I mean…we are a good team and all…."

Roll smiled. "Oh come on Megaman, we all know what a great team you and Lan make. You two really did make the WWW look like chumps."

Maylu and Lan smiled at their navis.

"Now Lan, your battle will be coming up soon. I want you to do a great job, in fact…" The Director trailed off and glanced around to see if anyone was listening to them, "…I'll be secretly rooting for you…" he said with a smile.

The Director stepped forward, to a flight of stairs that would take you down to the street where the metro line was, and placed a hand on Lan's shoulder.

"Good luck my' boy…" he said as he then turned to Maylu, nodded in greeting, and walked away toward a large limousine that had been pulled up to the street. Silently he put his umbrella away, which was also black, and got into the limo, soon after the engines revered up and the limo slowly pulled away into the night.

Lan turned back to Maylu and smiled.

"Come on…let's go home."

And as the two of them walked through the crowd into the metro station the rain fell harder into the night as the moon rose higher. It was going to be a wonderful weekend.

* * *

Inside the limo the Director, Abbadon, sat facing a man in a suit like his, dark as night with a red tie. White, tight fitting, gloves covered the man's hands. He had crew cut brown hair that sat neatly on his head, and pure light brown eyes. His teeth shone in perfect white, a sign that he had surely whitened them too much, and his skin, tanned neatly and perfectly, was stretched over his almost skeletal figure. He barely had any sort of body at all, it was all mostly bone with the skin stretched over it, but he was young, about thirty, and liked the way he looked.

The man extended a yellow file to Abbadon, who took it and opened it in his lap.

"What's this?"

"That, my dear friend, is a file on everything that we could find on a very special Dr. Yuchihiro Hikari."

Abbadon scanned over the file and smiled as he pulled a small photo from the corner of the file. In it was Dr. Hikari standing next to other scientists and behind them was a large meteorite.

"Is that….." Abbadon began, but was cut off by the other man.

"Yes. That's it. The Ruby Crystal Meteorite, as people have begun to call it, is one of the eight pieces of the Millennium Star."

Abbadon grinned and sat back in his chair.

"This is….perfect…..Hmhmhm….Iblis!"

Suddenly a screen on the roof of the limo chimed into life.

"Sir?" asked the same navi as was in the Directors office, still hidden in the darkness.

"The Ruby Crystal Meteorite…I want you to dig up as much information as possible on it, Dr. Hikari's connection to it, and the Millennium Star! I must have that star!"


	8. Chapter 8: Let Hero's Stand

"Well folks, it's almost here, soon, in four days from today, the Star Festival will begin all across the world. Many Electopians are still getting ready for the event. People all over the world are waiting, confident that this year's Star Festival will be the best one yet…"

Lan was sitting at the kitchen table, his PET sat on the table across from him, eating breakfast. His mom had turned on the TV to hear the daily news. The more Lan heard about the Star Festival the more excited he became. He loved the Star Festival! Even Megaman was excited.

Megaman smiled as he was doing work in his PET, moving files around and checking over the daily schedule. Today was the day! Today was the day that Lan and Megaman where going to fight in the tournament, and Megaman was abuzz with excitement.

"So Lan, dear, are you and Megaman ready for your battle today?" asked Mrs. Hikari from the living room.

"Yeah, Megaman and I are gonna win this whole tournament in no time!"

Megaman chuckled, his back turned to Lan. "It's nice to say that Lan, but you don't even know anything about our opponent."

Lan smiled. "Yeah…well I'm sure we'll win anyway! I mean, how hard could they be? We've fought close matches before."

Then the conversation was interrupted by a loud ping from the PET. Megaman turned toward Lan and gestured to a small window that had appeared.

"Uh…it's a call from the Director…" Megaman said.

Lan almost chocked but quickly regained himself and told Megaman to open the connection. The Directors face appeared on a small screen that hovered over Megaman's head.

"Ah, good morning Lan, Megaman…as you know today is your match. I just wanted to call and say good luck once again. I'm sure you two will do great."

Megaman smiled. "Thank you Director."

The Director smiled slightly and then suddenly seemed to jolt with excitement. "Oh, by the way, do you still have that chip I gave you?"

Lan reached into a small case at his side and pulled out the chip.

"This?"

The Director nodded. "Yes, very good. You two should do quite well with that chip. Now, I need to go, the match starts in about an hour so hurry! Good luck!"

With that the connection was cut and the screen went black. Megaman closed the connection and smiled to Lan.

"Ready when you are Lan!"

* * *

Lan and his opponent, Ambika, stood on opposite sides of the large terminal in the tournament arena. The crowd was cheering loud and hard for both Lan and Ambika. It was going to be a great battle, and tension was high.

Reaino stood in the same spot as before, and with a smile yelled to the crowd: "People of Den Tech City! Welcome back to the Shadow of the Stars tournament. Today we have a great matchup, Lan Hikari and Megaman of your very own Electopia, against Ambika and Mallory of Netopia! I'm sure that you all can't wait for the battle to begin, so let's get this tournament underway!"

Lan was ready, and with a big sigh he looked at Megaman. Megaman was smiling nervously and waved to Lan.

"Come on Lan! I'm ready!"

Ambika looked to her navi, who nodded to her, as to say "I'm ready, let's go!"

Reaino raised a hand into the air and quickly chopped it back down, "Ready…….Jack-In! And may the battle BEGIN!"

Lan jacked in Megaman, as Ambika did Mallory, and the large screen overhead and the terminal flashed into life.

But Lan noticed something different right away, the field was different. Instead of the normal tiles on the floor there were strange…some where covered in poison, others broken, and a large amount of them where covered in strange black fog.

Megaman landed on a normal tile at the left end of the field, his opponent Mallory was on a normal tile on the right end of the field.

Mallory was about the same height was Megaman. She had two purple eyes, which set out from her pale face. She had long dark grey hair, even though she was quite young, that stretched down her back. She wore a suit like all navis, it was black, her boots where the same purple as her eyes, as where her gloves. But unlike some navis, who had busters on one hand, she had a long whip. A symbol was set onto her chest, a purple back ground with a blue teardrop falling into water, which was reflected on the bottom half of the symbol.

Mallory smiled at Megaman, and leapt into action.

She jumped onto another normal tile to Megaman's right, Megaman then jumped over to a normal tile, but upon landing he found that the tile was crumbling from his weight and he leapt off, and just in time, as the tile collapsed and showed that underneath the field was a black hole like object that was tearing at the field.

Mallory took the opportunity, while Megaman was scrambling for good footing, to lash out with her whip. As the whip extended it suddenly stretched out and lashed at the ground a tile away from Megaman. Megaman yelped as the tile that was hit suddenly broke away from the rest of the field.

"Lan! If she keeps hitting the normal tiles on the field, I'll run out of footing! I need some help here!"

"Right! Shotgun battle chip IN!"

Megaman's buster arm suddenly burst into data and reformed as the same buster as before, but he now had a snipers scope to look through. Megaman judged his distance and fired three shots at Mallory. Mallory took her whip and spun it in a complete circle, knocking each blast away like a fly.

Mallory and Ambika took that moment to laugh.

Lan grunted and pulled out another chip. "Shockwave battle chip IN!

Megaman raised his buster arm into the air, which again burst away, and reformed as a large pick axe. With great force Megaman brought the pick down and smashed it into the ground, suddenly the ground was being torn away by the power of the weapon and a large bolt of power shot toward, and hit, Mallory.

Mallory, who had still been laughing at Megaman, suddenly screamed as the shockwaves hit her.

Ambika cursed under her breath, she shouldn't have let her guard down.

"Dark Arc battle chip IN!"

Suddenly Mallory's whip retraced and re-extended into a large purple whip with large thorns on it. Quickly she spun it over her head, and thrust it toward Megaman. Megaman dived toward another tile nearby, and the whip smashed into the previous tile. The tile suddenly burst into darkness and faded back into a purple poisoned tile.

"What happened to the great Megaman!? I heard that you took out some of those WWW navis with one shot, if so, why are you running!" Mallory yelled.

Megaman groaned and signaled to Lan. Lan nodded and pulled three chips from the small case at his hip and inserted them, one at a time.

"Grass field battle chip in, Slasher battle chip in, Meteor battle chip IN!" Lan yelled as each chip went into effect.

Suddenly the battle field burst into light and reemerged as a field of grass. Ambika and Mallory cursed under their breath. Then a large cane appeared in front of Megaman, at the same time as his buster arm shattered and morphed into a large whip-like sword.

Megaman touched the cane with his regular hand, and the orb on top light up. Suddenly large chunks of red hot space rock, shot down from the area above them and flew straight at Mallory.

Mallory jumped from tile to tile, barely dodging some of the meteors while clearing the others. Megaman stepped forward and lashed out with the whip, it flew forward and Megaman yanked back, causing it to arc from side to side, Mallory now had a new challenge. Dodge the meteors, while jumping over the sword below her.

The jump rope game lasted for only a few seconds when it happened. Mallory took a large jump to get away from another meteor, and she didn't judge her time right. Her foot was caught on the sword and she fell into the tile in front of her, just as a meteor came crashing down toward her.

Megaman jumped back to his old space, the cane was out of power, and the sword had done it's work. Mallory was down, but the question was…was she out?

The crowd had soared into applause and screams as Megaman and Lan had unleashed there combination of moves to stop Mallory, but now all was quite. Everyone was waiting to see if Mallory would stand up.

The meteor that had smacked into her, along with all the others, had faded away. Mallory was now lying on the ground, in a very painful position, face down.

Ambika had her hands on the edge of the terminal and was leaning forward, her PET had gone black.

Then Mallory began to move, small specks of data flaked off her body. Then her whole body burst into data and flew away.

The same voice from Tyrell and Zack's battle came over the intercom.

"Mallory deleted…the winner is….Lan Hikari and Megaman!"

Reaino jumped into the air with excitement.

Lan jumped up and yelped, Megaman smiled, Ambika sighed, and Mallory, now in her PET, cursed.

"What an amazing battle! Well, one thing's for sure, you never know what to expect when you get two great battlers like this against each other! Let's give them a round of applause folks. That was simply amazing!"

The crowd roared into applause and Lan and Megaman took it all in. They won! They had won their first battle in the tournament!

Meanwhile in the Directors office, he sat staring at the window just as before, smiling at Lan.

"Well…they won…no surprise there…" he said in a dull voice.

"Yes…but the question is…can they survive the next round?" Iblis asked from his screen.

The Director paused and turned to his navi. "Who is to fight next?"

"Well today…Tyrell will fight Alex, Max will fight Sara, Mei will fight Jason, and Lucia will fight Kate."

"…After all the battles…who will fight Lan?"

"………From the looks of it. Either… Mei, or Lucia."

The Director grined and chuckled cruley. "…Then let's get on with it…it's almost time for the Star Festival."

Iblis laughed darkly. "Yes…soon we shall have our revenge…"


	9. Chapter 9: A Winners Prize

"Well folks it looks like all the fighting is done for another grand day! So, here are the winners of today's battles. Lan, Tyrell, Mei, and Lucia! All four of these great battlers will advance to the next round! So we say good luck to you all! Once they have fought their way through, the winners of that round will fight head-to-head in the finale! And the winner of that will be awarded with the, very special, title of Shadow of the Stars Champion, and they will receive the Control System, and we can't wait for that now can we? Now let's see you all here, bright and early tomorrow! GOOOOOOOD LUCK OUT THERE!"

It was Reaino's ending speech. The tournament had ended for the day, only two more rounds remained until the tournament came to a close. And, ironically, the tournament would come to a close the day of the Star Festival.

But the excitement was not only down on the arena floor, it was also present in the Directors office.

Abbadon sat in his chair, staring daggers at a man in uniform across from him.

"….I am sorry sir…but without the codes we can't obtain the Ruby Crystal." Said the man in a defeated tone.

Abbadon growled in his throat as he took a long drink of his tea. "I don't care what you have to do, how you do it, or to what lengths you must go, I WANT THAT DAMN CRYSTAL!" Abbadon's voice echoed throughout the room, causing the guards at the door to flinch.

Iblis, who was present in the meeting, sighed at his operator and chuckled, yet again hidden in the darkness of his PET.

"Sir, if I may, I would like to make a suggestion."

"Speak Iblis."

Iblis bowed to his master and began to speak. "Now, as we know. The Millennium Star will come into alignment with Earth only on the Star Festival. As such, all the crystals must be present at the moment of alignment, midnight. Now, SciLabs has the first crystal, Ruby, and we have the second, Sapphire. The Emerald Crystal is in Electopia, Amethyst in Netopia, Diamond in Sharo, Topaz in Netfrica, and the final piece, Obsidian, is still missing. I would like to suggest that, since the tournament has ended for the day, we send our agents to go and find the Crystals and bring them back here."

Abbadon nodded. "That is a nice idea Iblis, but…how are we going to do it? How could we? We don't have the man power, and I am NOT going to ask Kane for help in this. This is my business, my operation to lead!"

"I understand that sir, and Kane need not get involved, I thought….that I could take care of this situation."

Abbadon was shocked, in all the years they had been partners, Iblis NEVER had offered to do the job himself.

"I-Iblis….are you certain you wish to do this alone?"

"Fear not sir, I shall have the Crystals much before midnight of the festival. Adieu."

With that Iblis was gone…Abbadon at first looked scared, but then he began to grin, a grin that grew and grew.

"……Then it is complete…..I have won…."

* * *

Lan was walking home, alone, and talking with Megaman. They had just gotten off the metro line and arrived in ACDC town. But their conversation was interrupted by Maylu screaming.

"Maylu!" Lan yelled as he ran over to her, she was standing in the center of town.

"What…." Lan started to ask, and that was when he noticed that police cars where outside of his house, and his house was on fire.

"Lan! LAN!" screamed a woman who was standing with the police, that was when Lan saw it was his mom.

"Mom! What happened?" Lan asked as he ran over to her. Maylu had followed behind.

"Lan, it's horrible….some men in weird uniforms broke into the house! We were watching the tournament on TV when it happened……they held a gun up and……"

"And what!?"

"You father had been home…..he came home early…..they shot him……and then they took him away in a car, they went toward town."

"And they took Roll!" Maylu cried, Lan turned and saw that she was bleeding. She had a cut on her arm, a black eye, and her cloths where dirty and torn.

With that Lan sped away, he skated toward the metro line, leaving Maylu and his mom far behind.

Megaman looked shocked and horrified at the same time. Not only was his dad now missing, but Maylu was hurt, Mom was in terror, and the house was on fire. Who could have done this? WHY!?

"Lan…..we have to find out who did this, fast!"

But Lan wasn't listening he was still speeding down the lane toward the metro line. In the background the house creaked and fell, it was gone….Mrs. Hikari fell to the ground and cried, Maylu was talking with a policeman. And far above that scene, the night had begun. And one star shone brighter than all others, the Millennium Star…….


	10. Chapter 10: The Curtain Draws

"LET ME GO!" screamed a female voice.

"Shut up! *SLAP*"

"AH!"

"Hey! Leave her alone!"

"SLIENCE! *gunshot*"

Suddenly the elevator doors burst open at the Shadow of the Stars tournament grounds. The elevator had been taken up to the Directors office, and the Director was standing in front of his desk with a dark smile.

Two guards walked out of the elevator and threw a man in a brown and orange sweater down onto the ground. The man was bleeding, badly, and moaned as he pulled himself up.

"Ah, Dr. Hikari, welcome. I have been expecting you."

"W-Who are you…….and….what d-do you want…?" Dr. Hikari panted as he pulled himself off the floor and into a standing position. His left arm was holding his right, he had been shot and the blood had soaked his sleeve.

"I, Dr. Hikari, am the Director of the tournament that your son is a part of. My name is Abbadon, and as for what I want, it's quite simple. You know a very complex security code, and I want it! If you give it to me I will let you go, if not….than I will have my friends shoot you again."

Dr. Hikari cursed. "Even if I gave you the code, what would you do with it?"

"Simple…all I need is the Ruby Crystal…and you WILL give it to me!"

"W-What! I'll do no such thing!"

Abbadon snapped his fingers and the screen behind him came to life. On it was Iblis, and Roll. Iblis was holding Roll by her left arm and she was in pain. Iblis had a very sharp sword pointed to her neck.

"Now Dr. Hikari, I know that this navi may not be that important to you. But she IS to the two people I am waiting for."

"Lan and Megaman." Dr. Hikari whispered.

"Yes. Lan is good friends with Maylu, and I believe that this navi is hers, is it not? Also this navi and Megaman are quite good friends….it would be a shame if anything happened to her…"

Dr. Hikari lunged forward toward Abbadon; Abbadon stepped to the side and stuck out his foot. Dr. Hikari tripped and fell to the floor. Abbadon then turned to him and kicked him repeatedly.

"Bad move doctor…."

Suddenly there was a loud siren from the intercom and Reaino's voice came over the intercom.

"Director, Lan Hikari and Megaman have just arrived via the metro line!"

Abbadon chuckled. "Good…send Lucia and Tyrell to deal with them."

"No sir." Iblis cut in.

"What!?" Abbadon yelled as he turned to his navi.

"Allow me…."

* * *

Lan and Megaman had rushed into town after getting off the metro line and asked people if they had seen a dark car speeding through town, or heard about a pink navi or the doctor. After asking around for almost an hour they finally found a man who had said he saw the car. He told them the car had been speeding through town, and went straight to the tournament grounds.

After hearing the information Lan and Megaman hopped on the metro line and now stood outside the tournament grounds. Guards where everywhere, they all wore the same uniform as the tournament officials, only they now had a red DA written over the symbol.

Lan was hiding behind a tree in the courtyard as two guards walked by.

"So Abbadon wants us to look for that Hikari kid? I don't understand it. If he wants the Ruby Crystal why doesn't he just hack into SciLabs?"

"He doesn't want to get any attention drawn to himself. If no one knows what's going on, then he can steal the Crystals easily."

Lan had heard two of the guards talking. "Ruby Crystal?" he whispered. The coast was clear so Lan ran toward a small statue to hide behind as the guards began to walk back his way.

"Megaman…there's a jack in port here on the statue. I'll jack you in! Try and find out what's going on!"

Lan removed the PET from its case and jacked Megaman into the statue. Megaman was now standing in a large net area. The floor was a dark grey color, and at the other end of the room was a large portal. Megaman ran forward and stepped into it, bursting into light.

The light faded down and Megaman found himself in a very familiar area, Star Hill. The sky was dark, and all the lights there seemed to be slowly diming. Far in the distance Megaman was a large arena like building, the tournament arena!

Megaman ran forward to the building and entered another area of Star Hill. This area was darker than the last. The floor was a black-and-white checkered tile. In the center of the room was the same symbol that Megaman had seen all through the tournament, the silver star with the green streak trailing behind it, but this one had DA written in red in the center of it.

"What's going on here? This is the battle field!"

"Yes, and it is also your grave my boy." Said a dark voice that echoed all through the area. Megaman searched for the voice, but remained on guard.

"Did you really think that the guards hadn't seen you?"

Suddenly Megaman heard Lan yell.

"HEY! LET ME GO!"

Two guards in grey uniforms where holding Lan's arms and taking him inside the building, they left Megaman jacked into the statue.

"WHERE ARE YOU!?" Megaman yelled as he fired a few shots into the darkness. A dark voice let out a laugh and Megaman could hear the figure moving in the darkness.

"Megaman…I've heard much about you…I pictured you…older."

"Why don't you show yourself you coward!"

"Coward? Moi?" said the man in the darkness. "You're the one who's scared."

"I'm not scared of you!"

"Oh no? But you are scared for Dr. Hikari, and Lan. Oh, and Roll as well."

"R-Roll! What have you done to her!?"

"Hmhmhmhm….don't worry, she's alive….for now…."

Suddenly the lights all flashed on. Megaman could finally see his opponent, and the first thing he saw were the two blood red eyes glaring at him with spite.

The navi was tall, only a few inches taller than Megaman. He had a black bodysuit that was seen under a plate of dark grey armor. His hands where bright, blood red, and had two spikes on each hand. His helmet was much like Megaman's only it held two blades on it. The helmet was grey, and the blades where bright red. He had large shoulder pads that extended out into blade-like points, and they held in place a long black cape which. The inside of the cape was red, while the outside was black, and it extended down to the floor and engulfed him entirely. In the center of his chest was his symbol. A red background with two white gloved hands cupped outward. The last thing that Megaman noticed about him was his face, he had perfect teeth but his canine teeth where pointed, and a very dark scar fell from the side of his face down his cheek. He also had a perfect tanned tone, and was much more muscular than Megaman.

The navi bowed to Megaman and tugged on his cape, it engulfed all of his body so all that was seen was his neck and upward.

"My name is Iblis….Welcome to the Dark Aero headquarters." With that Iblis snapped his fingers, suddenly hundreds of navis had jacked into the room and all of them had corned Megaman.

"MEGA!" cried a voice. It was Roll!

Megaman could now see that behind Iblis was a large electric cage, and in it was Roll!

"Roll! Are you alright!?"

"I'm fine Megaman….you have to get out of here!"

"Not without you, Lan, and Dad!"

Iblis cackled into laughter. "…Oh, how sweet. You don't want to leave without your family and friends. HAHAHAHAHA! WHAT A PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A NAVI!"

"W-What did you say!?" Megaman growled.

"You obviously care about these people, that is why you are weak! Affection can cloud your judgment in difficult times, if you love someone, then when the time comes you can't let them go. In fact, I'd bet that if I shot her right now you would probably try and kill me. And if you tried to all my guards would have you blasted to bits before you even moved an inch."

"…….No….I wouldn't…."

"Oh really?" with that Iblis turned to Roll and fired. Suddenly hell broke loose. Megaman screamed and lunged toward Iblis, plowing through the guards. Iblis burst into another cackle of laughter, and all the guards in the room tackled Megaman to the ground and proceeded to hit, kick, and shoot him.

Roll wasn't hit; in fact Iblis hadn't even fired a full blast at her. She was screaming Megaman's name as loud as she could, hoping that he was still alive after the waves of attacks that just hit him.

Iblis turned to Roll and walked toward her cage. He lifted a hand through the bars and touched it to her check.

"You know….you are quite a beautiful girl."

Roll slapped the hand away and spit at Iblis. Iblis grunted and wiped the spit away, he then glared at her.

"You'll pay for that you little…."

"Master Iblis!" Called one of the guards. Megaman was now barely conscious, his face had been hit pretty hard and he had a black eye, he was being held up by two guards.

"Ah, yes, take him away!" Iblis ordered as he turned back to Roll. "You will be staying with me my dear…"


	11. Chapter 11: The True Dark Aero

Megaman was thrown to the floor inside a large electrified cage. It was the same cage Roll had been in, only Roll wasn't there. Megaman pulled himself to his feet and looked out the bars of the cage. He was in a large dark room, on the floor was the Dark Aero symbol, on the ceiling was a large chandelier.

"Roll……Lan…..Dad……how could this be happening? I thought that Dark Aero was on our side…"

"…….M-Megaman…….is that you?" asked a tired and hurt voice.

"L-Lan! LAN! Are you alright!?" Megaman cried.

Suddenly a large screen flashed into life over Megaman's head. On the screen was Lan, he was trapped in a cell too, and it looked like the guards had been rough with him. He had a cut on his cheek, a bruise over one eye, and his lip was busted.

"Lan….you look horrible…."

"I could say the same thing about you." Lan said, causing the two boys to burst into laughter.

"So….what happened?" Megaman asked.

"Well, I was standing at the statue with you when we jacked in. But when you went into that dark room two men came up behind me and grabbed me. One of them put his hand over my mouth so you couldn't hear me when I yelled. The other pulled me back and they tied my hands. Then we left the courtyard and came inside, we walked through the waiting room…that was when I tried to get away. I kicked one of them and he released me, then I spun around and rammed the other man against the wall. I ran over out of the room, and back outside. I almost made it to the stairs going to the metro line when I saw a metro worker. I yelled for help, but he just walked over to me and attacked. He punched me and knocked me to the ground, the other guards showed up and they started kicking me and beating me up. Finally they dragged me in here and I've been here alone for about five minutes until you showed up. How did you do on your search?"

So Megaman told Lan all about Iblis, and Dark Aero, and Roll being trapped.

"So…Dark Aero is the bad guys! They've worked with Dad at SciLabs for years….why would they do something like this?"

"I don't know, but this whole tournament was staged. I bet that all the participant work for Dark Aero!"

"Yeah…your probably right….man…this SUCKS!" When Lan yelled he kicked at the door of his own cell. Then he sighed and sat down on the floor.

"…What are we going to do? We have no idea what they want, and they've got Roll and Dad!" Megaman said.

"……I don't know Megaman…..I don't know…."

* * *

"…6…8….1….2….7…5….1….0….6….4…9….3…" Dr. Hikari mumbled.

"Thank you so much Dr. Hikari, you've made me a very happy man. Iblis! Go to SciLabs and enter this code, 681275106493. Then bring me the Ruby Crystal."

"As you wish sir." With that Iblis turned and left his operator behind.

Abbadon smiled and sat down in his chair. Dr. Hikari was sitting in a red velvet chair across from him.

"….So….what are you going to do with the Crystals?" Dr. Hikari asked.

"Ah, yes. It's quite simple you see. Each year a comet, the Millennium Star, circles this planet. Every day it is just out of reach that is, except for the Star Festival. On the Star Festival it is in perfect alignment with the planet, so that is when my plan will bear it's fruit."

"And just what is your plan?"

"Hmhmhm…it seems I've piqued you interest eh, well good. Maybe you can learn something before you die. Now, long ago the Millennium Star was much larger than it is now. Once, it flew all around the galaxy and even threatened to destroy the planet once. To stop it a team, of which you where a part of, was assembled to destroy the comet. To destroy it you created a laser in which to blast it to bits. Blast it you did, but you didn't destroy it fully. Instead eight parts remained. Seven of them fell to Earth, but one, the largest section, still revolves around the planet. This comet was made of an incredible substance, strange crystals that radiate powerful energy, more powerful than ten nuclear bombs. My plan is simple…obtain all seven pieces of the star, and use them with a special machine that Dark Aero has been working on, to pull the Millennium Star from its orbit down to the planet!"

"WHAT!? That would destroy half the planet! Millions would die, not to mention the harmful effects that the radiation from all the energy would have on the people! How could you do something like this!?"

"That is of no importance to you! This world deserves this! With its destruction the world will reshape itself, it will take years yes, but the world will repair itself and then humanity can start anew!"

"YOU….YOU….You bastard!"

"Bah! Call me what you will, It matters not! Soon the Ruby Crystal will be mine and I have agents in every country known to have a crystal, and they will be mine!"

Meanwhile in Netopia the police ran all about the Net and the city. The Amethyst Crystal was gone! All of Netopia was on alert, as was Electopia, for the Ruby Crystal was gone as well! The Crystals had been taken, chaos had erupted all around the world as other nations learned of the thefts and began to guard their own crystals more.

It was the beginning of the end…….

The curtain was going to close….time had run out…the sun was rising….three days and counting….

The Millennium Star was moving slowly into position. Little did everyone know that when they would look to the sky on the festival at the most beautiful thing in the sky they would be looking straight into the face of their death……


	12. Chapter 12: Escape!

Megaman sighed and looked at every inch of his cell. He paced back and forth, tapping at each bar and trying to stretch through each bar he passed.

"Megaman….this is the third time you've tried that….give up….we're trapped…."

"No, I will not give up! Roll needs us! Dad needs us! Hell, maybe even the entire world needs us, and I'm not just going to sit here like a fool!"

Lan sighed and stretched out to lie on the floor. "The suns coming up….only three days left until the Star Festival….and I'm gonna miss it…."

Megaman ignored Lan and stopped pacing as an idea hit him.

"Lan! I've got an idea!"

"Really? What is it?" Lan asked sitting up.

"Ok, I'm sure that they took my PET somewhere, but I want you to look around. If there's some way you can alter the Net from your side maybe I can escape and find a way to get you out."

Lan got up and looked around his cell. There was nothing, just a floor with a wall of iron bars around it and a thermostat control, and acroos from the cell was a glass window. Through the window was a room full of computers and large servers….wait….a thermostat…computers….

Lan took a chance and glanced at the thermostat, written under it was a label that read, ENERGY ROOM "I've got it!"

"What!?" Megaman asked, getting excited.

"I can control the temperature of the Energy Room from in here. If I make hot enough it could cause the computers to overheat. Maybe if that happens the Net will get affected and you can escape, and maybe even my cell is linked to the energy room and the door will open automatically!"

"Wow…that's a really smart idea Lan. See, school does help you."

"Heh, Yeah….I guess it does….here goes nothing…."

Lan twisted the dial downward, the temperature rose 70…80….90…100…110…….120…..

Lan turned and looked into the Energy Room, the machines where still going. Then the heat kicked on. The machines worked and worked…then they started to get hotter….and hotter…..then….

BOOM!

Lan hit the floor and screamed as the computers suddenly overheated and burst into flames. The glass window shattered, but the plan worked!

Megaman's cell suddenly burst into light and faded away. Megaman jumped up and yelled.

"IT WORKED! I'M FREE!"

Lan glanced up, his door had been an automatic door and had now opened.

"Me too! Now let's find Roll and Dad!"

"Right!"

* * *

Suddenly Reaino's voice was on the intercom.

"ALERT! ALERT! ENERGY ROOM FIRE! ENERGY ROOM FIRE! CELLS 1-7 HAVE BEEN OPENED! THE PRISONERS ARE FREE!"

"WHAT! NO! Iblis! Find them! KILL THEM! YOU! Get all my agents up here NOW!" Abbadon screamed.

Dr. Hikari smiled and chuckled. "….Lan….Megaman….good work…."

* * *

Roll was sitting in her own cell in Iblis's own room at the Dark Aero building. Now that the Energy Room had caught fire all the power in the building was going crazy. Her cell had opened, but the Net was in tatters, large spikes of electric power where rocking the area, at this rate the whole Net Area would be ripped apart.

"….Mega….Lan….I have to help them!" With that Roll set out, running away from her cage and out into the perils of the collapsing Net Area.

* * *

Tyrell, Ambika, Mei, and Lucia where all standing in Abbadon's office, just as they had been at the start of the tournament, but this time they weren't talking to the Director….this time they were talking to their boss.

"Listen up…Megaman and Lan are here, they caused a fire in the Electric Room and now the Net and all of this buildings electric devices are going haywire. Iblis and the guards are searching for Megaman; I want you all to find Roll, the girl navi that is Lan and Megaman's friend, and that stupid boy! Find them, KILL THEM! GO!"

Tyrell ran out of the room, via a set of stairs that had been hidden by a bookcase, Mei and Ambika took positions to protect Abbadon, and Lucia took the stairs down after Tyrell.

Dr. Hikari smiled and glanced from Abbadon to Mei and Ambika.

"….Looks like your plan has a few flaws."

Abbadon turned to Dr. Hikari and leaned toward him. Dr. Hikari could feel Abbadon's breath on his face, Abbadon's eyes where alight with fury.

"……I would be silent if I were you doctor, we do know where you live, remember!?"


	13. Chapter 13: Darkness Falls

Megaman jumped over a sudden spike of energy that arced toward him. The Net Area was falling apart! Huge chunks of it where suddenly going dark, soon the whole Net Area would go offline, if that happened before he and Roll got to the safety of their PET's they would be deleted forever!

Now that Lan wasn't in the cell, which had a streaming camera connection to the Net, Megaman and Lan couldn't talk to each other. Megaman was on his own…

Megaman dashed forward into another section of net, the ground was covered in broken tiles. The Net was failing faster here than in other areas. Megaman jumped over a section of missing tiles and scrambled for footing as a chunk of ground was broken under weight. Megaman could see a large area before him; it was the central area of the whole Star Hill and Tournament Grounds Net Areas.

Megaman climbed up and ran for the area, but just as he was about to reach the gate to the area a dark shadow suddenly covered the area. Megaman yelled and dashed forward, the net was shutting down!

Dashing forward with all his strength and speed he reached the central section of the next area, and just in time. But yet again his progress was halted, not by the Net itself, but by a navi.

The navi was a female, and wore a light green body suit., the only parts of the green that were seen where the parts on her arms, her body itself along with her legs where a calm cream color. Halfway up her legs sat her boots, the same cream as her suit but with a green strip in the center. Her hands where covered in deep green gloves that matched well with her green eyes. Her helmet was much like Megaman's but in the same deep greens and light greens as her suit, she had long blonde hair that stretched far down her back. The symbol on her chest was a green pool of water with a light crème colored water drop falling into the pool and reflecting on the bottom…just like Mallory…..

"W-Wait!" yelled the navi, stuttering slightly as she raised her buster to Megaman.

"Get out of here! This whole Net Area is breaking down! If you know what's best for you, jack out now!" Megaman cried.

"…..I can't….Abbadon….Iblis….They said that I have to kill you…."

Megaman stepped forward, he could see that the navi didn't want to harm him, but she had no choice.

As Megaman stepped forward the navi tensed and fired, but missed, the shot landing to Megaman's right.

"Hey…come on….please…I don't want to fight you, and I can tell you don't want to fight me. I need to find my friend…"

"Your friend?"

"Yeah…her name's Roll. She's a really good friend of mine…I just need to find her, get my operator out of here with his father, and find my PET. Please…the nets falling apart, even if we fight it won't matter…there's no time!"

The name looked confused; she looked up to her operator. The girl wore a green shirt and had long black hair, she too looked confused.

Megaman continued moving forward until he was able to reach out to the navi. He placed his hand on her buster arm and slowly pushed her hand gently down. The navi then burst into tears and dived to the ground, a loud shot rang out and Megaman was blown to the ground.

That was when he saw it, Iblis. He was standing at the opposite end of the room, hidden in the darkness; Roll was at his side, held back by two guards, one of them holding his hand over her mouth. Iblis had come to make sure that the navi either killed Megaman or died trying. He had fired to kill the navi, but she had dived to the floor and the shot hit Megaman.

"MEGAMAN!" Roll screamed, she had bit down on the guards hand and he had screamed.

"AH! YOU LITTLE!"

"Seize the traitor! KILL MEGAMAN!" Iblis ordered. More guards burst into the room as suddenly the entire room began to shake. The power was failing.

"Damn! Leave them!" Iblis ordered as he ported away to another area, pulling Roll with him and locking the portal back.

Megaman, who was still on the ground due to the fact that the gunshot had been powered with a paralyzing lightning bolt, lay in pain and shock as Iblis took Roll away and the area grew dark. The last thing he heard was Roll screaming for him, as the area went dark.

Just as the darkness began to engulf him he felt a hand touch his chest and his vision was engulfed in a burst of white light…

* * *

Lan dashed down a checkered hallway; at the end of the hall were the stairs to the skybox. Lan had just turned a corner in the hall, the stairs straight ahead, when he heard footsteps from the stairs. Frantically he glanced around trying to find a place to hide, that was when he found a small closet at the side of the hall. Lan gripped the handle and threw it open.

Just as the door shut, two guards marched down the stairs, Abbadon and Dr. Hikari with them. Lan could hear them talking outside as they passed by.

"….all but one Crystal is within our possession. We need to just assemble all the pieces of the star and ready the machine. But we still can't find the Obsidian Crystal."

Lan heard a dark laugh from outside the door, the footsteps stopped right outside the door.

"Worry not; the Obsidian Crystal will soon be ours. I know just where it is, as long as dear Dr. Hikari decides to cooperate."

"I will not! You're mad! I'll never help you!"

Lan heard a loud popping noise, like someone's fist hitting something, followed by a groan of pain.

"I would advise you to follow my orders doctor."

Lan clenched his fists, he wanted to burst out the door and tackle Abbadon to the ground, but he couldn't. If he was to move he would make too much noise and Abbadon would find him. But fate has a funny way of playing with us all, and Lan could tell…he was about to sneeze.

Tying to hold it in he could tell that the group had began to move again.

_No……no…..DONT! DON'T!_

"Ah……"

The footsteps continued.

"AH!"

Abbadon suddenly straightened up and turned slightly.

"Did you hear…?

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Lan was practically screaming inside his head.

"I heard nothing sir." Said the guard.

Abbadon shrugged and continued around the corner and down a flight of stairs.

"AH CHOO!" Lan finally sneezed.

_NO! PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T HEAR!_

Dr. Hikari had stopped moving.

_Lan….._

Luckily Abbadon and the guards hadn't heard Lan sneeze, but Dr. Hikari, who was walking in the back of the group, had heard it.

Lan waited a few seconds and burst out the door and up the stairs to the skybox. Throwing the door open he saw what he wanted, Megaman and Roll's PETs where on the desk. Lan dashed forward and picked up Megaman's PET and hit the transmission button. A screen appeared with a small keyboard. Lan typed a short SOS message and sent it to the one place he knew it would be heard…

And he would need their help, as much as he didn't want to…


	14. Chapter 14: Open Your Eyes

A young man in a red jacket sat in a black leather office chair, his attention turned to the window. Outside the young man could see people and cars zipping by, all going about their business normally on the busy morning that was a mere three days from the Star Festival.

The young man sat down in his chair and turned to his computer, which was connected to his PET. The young man wore a black shirt under his jacket, and had on a pair of camouflaged pants. His hair was a bright white, apart from the black sideburns he had, and his eyes a dull blue. His name was Chaud Blaze, a well known name all around the world. Not only was the boy a powerful Net Battler, he was also the son of a very wealthy man, in fact, one of the wealthiest in the whole world.

Chaud glanced at the clock above the door across from him, it read 7:29. Early…much too early to get much work done. So he merely grabbed his cup and took a drink. Just as he was about to swallow the liquid his PET chimed into life.

A navi in all red with black shades covering his eyes, and long white hair, appeared on the screen.

"Master Chaud, you have a message." The navi said in a very dull tone.

"From?" Chaud asked, turning once again to the window.

"…..Lan Hikari….." the navi spoke the navi slowly and with slight surprise. Chaud turned to his navi immediately and nodded for him to open the message. A window appeared on the screen with the letter open in it. The letter read:

Chaud! It's Lan!

I'm in big trouble. Dark Aero, they are up to something, and they've got Megaman, Dad, Roll, and me all trapped in the tournament building in Den Tech. You have to help me! I don't know what's going on, but it involves some kind of Crystals, and it doesn't sound too good.

Hurry!

Chaud read the letter over twice before gaining a confused look. He looked at his navi and spoke quickly.

"Enter a search for Dark Aero." He said.

The navi obeyed and sent out a search for Dark Aero, in mere seconds the results returned.

"Dark Aero is a PET and Battle Chip manufacturing company that has been working with SciLabs on a special project called the Control Chip System. The system is said to give its user the power of its own surrounding to create an unbeatable fighting system using the elements that make up the Net itself. The first system to be given out is to be awarded to the winner of the Shadow of the Stars tournament, which will end the day before the Star Festival…" The navi read quickly, pausing afterward for his master to take it all in.

Chaud was about to speak when his navi interrupted him.

"…The head of operations for the tournament, and the company, is Abbadon, no last name provided, an ex-assassin and supporter of the ex-Net terrorism organization, Nebula…." The navi paused yet again.

Chaud merely took in the information.

_A supporter of Nebula….and a contract assassin, heading a PET and Battle Chip manufacturing and research company…._

"…Sir, there is a file that goes into more detail about the man's life. Shall I open it?"

Chaud Blaze sat in his chair and leaned back.

"…….Open it….I want to know everything about Dark Aero and this Abbadon……."

* * *

Darkness had engulfed all of the Star Hill Net Area, and the Shadow Star Net Area. Navi's in the Den Tech Net Area had realized that the Net Area's had suddenly gone down, and a team of Repair Programs, and Officials, were sent out to investigate the area.

Navis stood all around the entrance to Star Hill, at the head of a group of navi was a navi that had participated in the tournament. The navi's name was Crain, his white armor reflected off the lights from the Den Tech Area, and where the only thing illuminating the Star Hill Area.

"Commander Crain!" yelled an Official navi in a green suit with the Official's Symbol on his chest.

"Yes?"

"All scans are complete sir, Star Hill Area and Shadow Star Areas are down. All power seems to have been shut down. What's worse sir, is that we believe that there may be navi's in some areas inside the Star Hill and Shadow Star areas that are still jacked in!"

Crain gazed an icy stare at the Net Area before him. "If all of the Net Areas connected to Star Hill and Shadow Star go down, hundreds of navis could be deleted permanently! I want to know how this happened and I want a team inside the Star Hill and Shadow Star Areas NOW!"

* * *

"….H-Hello…..are you ok?" a quiet voice called out in the darkness.

No answer.

"Hello…please….wake up…."

There was still no answer, not even a small squeak of noise emitted from the darkness.

"….Oh…..Please…..don't be dead…."

A long pause filled the darkness, but it was answered by a sputter of coughs.

"Oh good! Your alive! I got worried when you where still laying there after a few minutes!" cried the voice, a girls voice.

Light rushed into view as Megaman EXE opened his eyes to find that the darkness that had engulfed him was just his shut eyes! Megaman pushed himself off the floor; he had been knocked to the floor by a gunshot that had paralyzed him. After lying there for a long time he himself had thought he was dead.

The Net Area of Shadow Star was badly damaged, the Net Areas power system had been destroyed by Megaman and Lan, as means for escape, but by doing so they had caused a cascade failure in all of the Star Hill and Shadow Star Net Areas.

Megaman had barely made it out of one of the Net Areas as it had powered down, and after being shot he thought that this area would fall too. But the area had remained lit, a small beacon of light in a sea of darkness.

"….Hey….are you alright?" asked the girl navi, the one that had fallen to the floor just before getting shot at by Iblis.

"Y-Yeah….I'm fine. I've got a killer headache now, but other than that I'm fine."

The navi smiled and stood, extending a hand to Megaman and helping him to his feet. The navi then smiled at Megaman and blushed slightly.

"…I guess I need to introduce myself. My name's Suki."

Megaman smiled kindly to the navi. "I'm Megaman…of course I guess you know that already huh?"

Suki smiled but then screamed as the whole Net Area began to shake. Megaman looked to see what was happening and saw that the Net Area up ahead was beginning to surge with electricity, it's power restoring and then failing again.

"Come on!" Megaman yelled, running forward into the slowly darkening area.

Suki dashed forward to catch up and ran close behind Megaman. Megaman could tell that soon all of the Net would become dark, and he needed to find a stable place where Lan could get him out of the Net, or better yet, find Roll and Iblis!

The pair of navis suddenly screeched to a halt as Megaman yelled out to two figures on an upper level of the area. A navi in a black cape was moving briskly along the path, pulling a pink navi with him.

"ROLL!" Megaman screamed.

Roll spun around, along with Iblis who cursed and seemed to growl with anger.

"Mega!"

"How many times do I have to knock you down before you go away!?" Iblis yelled, aiming his buster and firing at Megaman. Megaman had anticipated the shot, and dived to the ground quickly. The shot flew over his head and burst into nothingness.

Suki looked up, confused. She needed her operator, the transmission had been lost and Suki was alone. Without her operator Suki couldn't decide what to do, betray Dark Aero by shooting at Iblis, or carry out her mission from Abbadon, and kill Megaman.

"LUCIA! LUUUCCCCCCIIIIIAAAAAA!"

* * *

Lucia, Suki's operator, was standing in the waiting room of the tournament building. As Abbadon had left the building he instructed that Lucia, and Mei stay to cover his escape, then when Megaman was dead Lucia, Mei, their navis, and Iblis, where to report to the meeting area, Aero Area, the main Dark Aero business building in Netopia.

Abbadon had taken his guards and Dr. Hikari to a limo outside the tournament grounds and they were now en-route to the Den Tech Airport, once they where to get on the 9:00 plane to Netopia no one would ever be able to stop them.

Tyrell, Ambika, and Reaino where waiting at the Airport already. They had been told to stay at the tournament grounds and protect the PETs, but after the power failure they all escaped as fast as possible and made a quick change of plans.

Lucia had jacked in her navi, but during a sudden black out on the Net Area, Suki was nowhere to be found. Lucia feared to jack out, knowing that if she did it might destroy all chances of finding her navi at all, and so she stood there hoping her navi would contact her.

That was when there was a sudden movement on her PET screen. Suki had made contact with her operator!

"Lu……a….."

Lucia quickly lifted her PET. "Suki! Suki, can you hear me!?"

"….Luc…..Lucia……"

"Suki!"

"LUCIA!" suddenly the PET flashed into life, it's screen returning to normal. Suki had re-connected herself to her PET and now was back to normal.

"Lucia! What do I do! Iblis! Megaman! DO I FIGHT FOR DARK AERO OR FOR YOU!?"

Lucia sighed and looked at her navi calmly.

"….I'm not letting Abbadon win! Dark Aero has done nothing but ruin my life, I'm done with them Suki! HELP MEGAMAN!"

Suki quickly turned to Megaman, to see him and Iblis shooting at each other.

It was time to stop Iblis once and for all, to show him just how much pain he had caused Lucia and her family. The fight, ended here!


	15. Chapter 15: Connections

Iblis roared in anger as one of Megaman's gunshots hit his arm. Iblis pushed Roll out of his way, knocking her to the ground, as he lifted his robe and called out a few words in another language. Large dark shadows stretched from Iblis's body and fell across the floor. Slowly the shadows rose, and took the shape of Iblis only they had no color at all.

Megaman groaned as he saw that, counting the real Iblis, there were seven against one. But that's where he was wrong…he wasn't alone.

Suki suddenly burst forward at alarming speed, firing her buster at two of the Iblis copies that were near her. The copies merely grunted as the shots hit them and bounced away. Clearly Iblis and his copies where going to be harder to kill.

Megaman cried out as one of the copies lashed out with a claw-like hand and tore at his arm. Roll, who had just now stood up, screamed at Megaman begging for help.

"You, my dear, are REALLY starting to get on my nerves!" Yelled Iblis as he grabbed Roll by her throat and began to choke her. Roll was trying to fight him off, kicking at him and pulling at his hands, but he was too strong. Her kicks did nothing to him, and she couldn't move his hands at all.

Roll tried to scream for Megaman, but her voice couldn't come. She tried and tried, but no sound could emit from the little pink navi's mouth.

Megaman, who had heard her first scream, twisted around after fighting one of the copies off and yelled at Iblis.

"LET HER GO!"

Iblis laughed and squeezed tighter, finally Roll was able to make a sound.

"M……M-Mega………h-help…." Roll wheezed, her breath beginning to come in short quirks, if this kept up she would die.

Suki was standing not far away and saw one of Iblis's copies come up behind Megaman.

"MEGAMAN! LOOK OUT!" she cried as she threw herself at the copy, knocking him to the floor.

Iblis frowned and dropped Roll to the ground; she fell and landed on her knees, trying to breathe again.

"It is not so enjoyable unless I can see Megaman's pain…"

Three of the copies had corned Megaman and Suki, each one holding out either a sword or a gun, ready to kill them. Megaman moved backward slowly until his back touched a wall.

"……Damn…..If we can't get past them Roll's finished! Not to mention Abbadon's plans!"

"….Megaman….don't you have any tricks up your sleeve?"

"I do…but without Lan's help…"

Megaman reached to his crest and pressed his hand to it, the two antennas on his back sent out a slight ping. If he could find his PET's wave, he could reconnect with Lan!

* * *

Lan was sitting at Abbadon's desk in the skybox, his PET, as well as Roll's, where on the table. He almost had the connections set back up…just a little longer and Megaman and Roll would be able to jack out of the Net and go back to the safety of their PETs.

But now Lan had a great resources, Abbadon's computer. The man had forgotten to turn off the computer, or even lock it, so Lan had complete access to the system. The computer screen was covered in folders and all sorts of icons. One folder caught Lan's attention, it was labeled CONTROL SYSTEM.

Lan clicked on the folder and a box appeared on the screen. It read:

WOULD YOU LIKE TO DOWNLOAD THE CONTROL SYSTEM TO YOUR PET?

YES

NO

Lan looked at his PET, he needed to get connected with Megaman first. If Megaman sent out a signal, and Lan sent out a signal, the two would reform their connection and the PET would work again. Lan pressed, for the third time, the SIGNAL button on the top of his PET.

All throughout the Net a sudden sound wave was released, the wave was searching for its brother wave. Only when the two waves met would they reconnect and Lan and Megaman be together again. The wave searched all over the Net, but suddenly stopped.

Backed up against a wall was a blue navi, two waves resonating from his body. The large wave dashed forward and touched to two smaller waves. Suddenly Lan's PET flashed into life.

"M-Megaman!" Lan cried as he saw his navi's face on his PET again.

Megaman hadn't known that he had be reconnected to his PET and jumped slightly at the sudden sound.

"LAN!"

Lan was jumping for joy inside himself, Megaman was back. But, Megaman was in trouble. Without thinking Lan pressed the YES button on the screen on Abbadon's computer and pulled a cable from the computer and plugged it into his PET.

A download bar appeared on the screen and slowly began to fill up.

"Help is on the way Megaman, just hang on!"

And help was indeed on the way, in the form of a red navi, who was rushing as fast as he could go, trying to arrive in time to help. His name was Protoman, the navi of Chaud Blaze.

He was coming to find Megaman, and find the man called Abbadon…….

* * *

The limo screeched to a halt, it had sped away from Den Tech City long ago, and was now at the Den Tech Airport. A plane bound for Netopia was due to leave in an hour and thirty minutes. Soon all the pieces would fall into place.

A man in a dark black suit got out of the limo, a man in a orange and brown sweater with him, and two men in black close behind. A young man stood at the Airport Gate, wearing green trousers and a grey jacket. Beside him stood a man in a black suit with a silver star on it, and beside him stood a girl in a dark blue dress. Behind the group was another girl, a young woman in a red shirt. They all stepped forward, smiled at the men from the limo, and walked together into the airport.

The plane would leave soon, and the plan would succeed.

A television inside the Airport showed a large meteor flying across the sky, under it was a small clock that was counting down. Counting down to the Star Festival……

Counting down to their own destruction……..


	16. Chapter 16: Freeze Control

Lan punched down on the execute button that appeared on the screen of his PET. The download was done! The Control System was his!

Megaman was waiting for the end to come; the guards were so close he could see that every detail of Iblis had been duplicated in the shadows. Suddenly Megaman's body began to glow, a strange barrier surrounded his body, pulsing powerful energy that shown a rainbow of colors in the dim light of the Net Area.

"Megaman! I downloaded the Control System into you! Remember what the man at the start of the tournament said? He said that with the system on you can use your surroundings as your weapons!"

Megaman grinned a dark grin, this fight ended now!

Megaman glanced quickly around and saw that Roll was crying, thinking that he was about to be killed. Her tears splashed down onto the floor creating little pin sized puddles. Megaman focused on the water and quickly moved his hand as if lifting the water into the air.

Suddenly the small teardrops lifted from the floor, and rose into the air. Roll was shocked to see her tears begin to trail off her cheeks and ascend into the air. Iblis saw the water move and groaned.

"WHAT! How did you get the Control System!?" he cried.

Roll smiled and simply watched as the tears rose higher, then shot toward Megaman and touched to his body. Megaman suddenly felt strange, the water seemed to absorb into his body and expand. He could feel the water moving through his body.

Megaman burst into light, causing everyone to shield their eyes and back away. The light grew brighter and brighter, illuminating the entire Net Area. Megaman's body was ripped apart pieces by pieces, the data spiraling through the light. Suddenly there was a spray of water that seemed to flood into the area.

Water, from all parts of the nearby Net Areas, was flooding into one object, Megaman. In the next Net Area there was a group of ice covered tiles, created by the air-conditioning unit that occupied the area. The ice tiles suddenly lifted off the ground and burst into shards of ice. The shards sailed through the air and pierced into the ball of light that made up Megaman.

Just as quick as it began the light faded, the data reformed, and the ice and water fused with it. As Megaman was reassembled his boots had changed to a white and sky blue mixture. His legs seemed to be made of liquid, as well as his whole body. Megaman's body was made up of the water he had absorbed; his helmet was adorned with the ice from the floor tiles. Bubbles of air floated through his body as if he was some sort of lava lamp.

"Wow…." Roll whispered.

"GO MEGAMAN!" Lan cheered.

Suki merely moved away slightly.

Megaman grinned darkly as he suddenly flicked his hand into the air. Geysers of water shot up from the floor that each of the Iblis copies. Each one suddenly staggered backward, but Megaman wasn't done yet. Quickly he pushed his hands forward and all the copies covered into water where suddenly encased in a coffin of ice.

Each copy screamed and fell to the ground, breaking apart into shards of ice.

Megaman raised the ice into the air and with a thrust of his hands they sailed toward Iblis. Iblis pushed his hands forward and strange green and blue flames twisted around his arms and lashed out destroying the crystals or ice before they reached him.

"This isn't the end!" He said as he burst into data and light, porting away.

Roll smiled, she was free!

Megaman's body suddenly grew stiff, he burst into light and data again and all the water and ice fell away from his body, splashing onto the floor as his body returned to normal.

Roll jumped from the upper road down to the area where Megaman was and ran over to him before he could even react. Megaman staggered backward and nearly fell over by the force of Roll slamming into him. Roll wrapped her arms around Megaman's neck and held close to him body in a strangling hug.

Megaman was stunned at first, but slowly wrapped his arms around Roll and hugged her back.

"Mega….I was so scared…..I thought you…..I thought you where gonna die!" Roll cried as she looked up at him weakly, her cheeks covered in tears.

Megaman smiled kindly at her. "It's ok Roll…I'm fine…besides, you know I can't go down that easy."

Lan smiled as he watched the two navis, they had ended the hug but still held onto one another, looking into each other's eyes.

Megaman tried to let go, but he seemed to be drawn to Roll's eyes, unable to look away. Megaman felt strange, like he was lightheaded, and felt like he might even pass out. He didn't know why he felt that way, but he knew one thing. He never wanted to move away from Roll's gaze.

Roll sighed as she looked even deeper into Megaman's eyes, the two navis where slowly moving together, though they didn't realize it, and suddenly Megaman pulled Roll to him, straight into an unexpected kiss.

Lan blushed and gasped.

Lucia and Suki, who had seen the whole thing as well, giggled.

Roll pushed away from Megaman, a bright red blush on her face. She seemed confused, happy, and sad all at the same time.

Megaman merely stood there stunned, he couldn't believe what he had just done…what THEY had done.

Roll then burst into a volley of giggles as Megaman burst into laughter. The two navis laughed and then looked away quickly, still embarrassed by what they had done. Oddly enough the navis felt embarrassed but also…they seemed to have enjoyed their little kiss.

But it would all be soon forgotten as Lan pressed a button on his PET and Roll's PET. Suddenly the two navis burst into data and reassembled in their respective PETs.

Lucia jacked Suki out shortly after.

The team had grown. Megaman, Lan, Roll, Suki, and Lucia. Now just one thing remained, get everyone together, find, and stop Dark Aero from completing their plan.


	17. Chapter 17: Peace

Lan and Lucia where standing outside the tournament building. After all the events that had transpired inside the building they wanted to get as far from it as possible. Megaman and Roll had returned to their PETs, and all was returning to normal.

The sky was already showing that the sun was rising high, time was speeding by and soon it would be the most powerful weapon of all.

Lan turned and looked at Lucia with a smile.

"So…why exactly are you helping us?" Lan asked with a slightly confused look.

"…Dark Aero….it's…it's not what I thought it was that's all. I thought that Dark Aero would be a kind organization, like you see on their TV commercials or in press conferences…but not long after I joined I began to notice that everyone was acting very strange…I mean, why would a PET manufacturing company have a program that can be used to delete security codes!?

I found out that Dark Aero was planning an attack on a Netopian electrical energy company. They planned to break in and destroy the building. Without that building large areas of the Netopian Net would go black…"

Lan gasped. "The blackout a year ago! It crashed the entire Net in Netopia for weeks!"

"Yes…that was Dark Aero. They did it for a special reason. With the Net down all the security systems in Netopia would be down. Once the Net went down the Director of Dark Aero, Abbadon, made a group of Dark Aero agents get together and sneak into the Netopian Government Military Research Facility. Once there they stole some files from the Network there and began some sort of research.

Since then they've been causing sudden blackouts on the Net and stealing other information. All of it has something to do with the Star Festival and some sort of Crystals…"

Lan reached out with his hand. Lucia took it and gave it a quick shake.

"Well, from now on we'll work together to stop Dark Aero!"

"Good… and I just happen to know where they're going!"

Lan smiled and he and Lucia ran off to the metro line to ride to ACDC town and return Roll to Maylu before they set out to stop Dark Aero!

* * *

Chaud Blaze had just gotten out of his car at the tournament grounds. His navi Protoman had informed him that Dark Aero was the head of the tournament, and Chaud had came to investigate. When Protoman had tried to gain access to the area he had found that other Officials had blocked off the area.

They had spoke with Crain, one of the Official navis, and Crain had told them of a group of navis still inside the network. A blue navi, green navi, pink navi, and navi in a black robe. Chaud had immediately set out to find Lan, who he knew would be the operator of the blue navi.

Chaud had just gotten out of his car and approached the tournament building when he noticed that there were no people, no cars, and no sound coming from the building. The tournament should have been going on, but it was as quiet as a ghost town.

"Protoman…call Lan…"

Protoman nodded and pressed a few buttons.

Suddenly Lan's face appeared on Chaud's PET.

"Chaud! You got my call!"

"Yes, where are you? I'm here at the tournament grounds, but you're not! I thought you needed help?"

"Sorry, but I found a way to get away shortly after calling you…"

"So, as usual, you've done nothing but waste my time…"

Lan frowned. "Look, you can still help…this is what's going on……."

---------------------------------------------MINUTES LATER--------------------------------------

"So that's what's going on, eh?" Chaud asked.

"Yeah…Dark Aero isn't what I thought it was either…"

Chaud sighed, he had returned to his car and was en-route to the airport.

"I'm on my way to the airport; I'll try and get the security guards to at least halter their escape. But I can't do much of anything without some hard evidence Lan, you'd better be SURE that this is what's happening."

"I'm positive! I'm not lying, really!"

Chaud chuckled and pressed the cancel button on his PET cutting the connection. Protoman reappeared on the screen and smiled at his operator.

"Glad that Lan asked for our help?"

"Actually yes, I was beginning to get bored with all that stupid official paperwork I was going to do. Maybe this will prove to be exciting."

"Do you actually believe Lan? I mean, Dark Aero is a very reliable organization, we've had business with them before…"

"I know…it seems odd that such a kind and well liked company would do something like this…but you never can be too sure."

Chaud Blaze smiled as he looked out the window of the car, they had arrived at the airport. It was time to stop Dark Aero. If Lan was telling the truth, it was time to test those claims.


	18. Chapter 18: Shadows of the Past

Maylu was standing outside her house staring at the ruble of what was once the Hikari residence. She couldn't believe that this had happened. Mrs. Hikari was staying at Maylu's house for the time being, and still the Hikari house smoldered in the dust, a painful reminder of the death that could have fallen over the entire family.

Dex and Yai, two more of Lan and Maylu's friends, where gone, Dex on vacation in Netopia, Yai in NetFrica. Neither of them knew what was happening back home.

The metro line came to a slow stop and the doors slowly opened. Lan Hikari stepped out along with Lucia. They turned a corner and reached the loading area of the metro line. Quickly Lan sprinted forward up the stairs and out onto the street.

He could see his house, a pile of charred rubble, mere feet away. Standing outside was a figure in pink and blue. Lan ran forward shouting.

"MAYLU!"

Maylu spun around to see Lan running her way. Suddenly she shot forward, meeting him in the center of the sidewalk from the house to the metro line, and hugged to him.

"LAN! Your ok!"

Lan could feel that his face was growing hot, slowly he wrapped his arms around Maylu and hugged her back. Lan could hear Megaman and Roll giggling from their PETs.

"M-Maylu…I'm fine…you didn't think that Dark Aero could really stop me and Megaman did you?" Lan asked as the hug ended.

Maylu smiled at him, her face actually covered in tears.

"I was so worried when you didn't come back last night…..your mom….she…."

Lan sighed and looked toward his house. It was gone…all that was left was small pieces of the walls and some furniture. The battle with the fire had long sense ended, but it seemed that the memories of the building still tried to reshape themselves, and bring the house back to what it once was.

Lan extended a pink PET toward Maylu, who gasped and quickly took it.

"Roll! You're ok!"

"Maylu! I missed you so much! You won't believe what happened to me!"

Lucia slowly moved up behind Lan and smiled at Maylu and Roll. Maylu looked up from her PET and noticed the girl standing there. With a kind smile she stepped forward and greeted her.

"Hi, my names Maylu."

"Hello. I'm Lucia. I was working with Dark Aero."

Maylu took a step back. "Was?"

* * *

"NO! STOP!"

"I have had enough of this! Kane has given you your orders doctor!"

"Please….sir…we will try again…but please, I have a family!"

"As do we all doctor, Kane has granted you with a special operation. But you have failed to accomplish said operation! You almost caused this entire organization to shut down!"

A young man in his late twenties was standing in a darkly lit room. He wore a black suit that fit him well, his brown hair sat neatly on his head and poked slightly out from his black fedora hat. His eyes were hard and dark, though they had once been kind and filled with life. One eye was green, while the other was amber in color.

The man was pointing a gun at another man, who wore a blue shirt under a white lab coat. He had black hair, with patches of silver in it. He was backing away from the man with the gun, and eventually came to a stop as a desk touched his leg.

"Why? Why would you do this? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!?"

"Doctor…Kane has given me my orders. You, unfortunately, have outlived your usefulness. If you can no longer contribute any pertinent information on how these Crystals work, then there is no need for you!"

"Please…..Abbadon….you can't!"

"….I am sorry father…but you should have known better to tell that doctor about the Nexus. Goodbye."

"ABBADON! NO!"

And that was the end…the gun fired, one shot between the eyes. The doctor slumped down painfully and collapsed to the floor in a bundle of clothing. Abbadon, the young man, stepped forward and took a file off the desk and left the room.

A pool of crimson red blood was spreading out across the white and black tiled floor.

With a jolt Abbadon, the forty year old silver haired man, woke from a dream he had almost every night. He had fallen asleep in his chair on the plane. The plane was due to leave in mere minutes. Tyrell, and Ambika sat across from Abbadon, Mei sat beside him.

The dream was not one of a fantasy, but one of a memory, a memory that would haunt the Director of Dark Aero for all his life, murdering his own father at the request of his boss. Dark Aero had been a kind and compassionate organization, but that was many years ago. It had once been a simple research company that aided with everyday PET and Net Navi creation.

But that was before it was called Dark Aero, it had once been called simply Aeroze, a Netopian owned scientific research facility, much like SciLabs. But one day, a very rich and powerful man, Kane Xelora, went and bought the company and renamed it Kane Industries.

But that company was soon disbanded when Kane was knighted Sir Kane. After being knighted Kane turned over all his power to his head scientist Darios. Darios, Abbadon's father, ran the company for years and became quite rich from it. The name was changed to Dark Aero, and ran by Darios for many years…

But in the end Darios was killed by his son, who had been ordered by Sir Kane to kill the scientist and bring the power of Dark Aero back into his hands. Since that day Abbadon had directed Dark Aero under the orders by Sir Kane…but Abbadon was actually feeling that, maybe, Kane was wrong.

Suddenly Abbadon's thoughts where blasted away when security guards of his own jumped up and went to speak with airport security.

A man in a blue airport security uniform walked over to one of the black suited Dark Aero security guards.

"Excuse me, but we cannot allow you to leave the airport."

Tyrell groaned as Abbadon stood quickly and moved toward the guards.

"What seems to be the problem officer?" he asked in a dark tone.

"It would seem that you have been doing quite a few things that I personally find distasteful." Said a voice from behind the airport security guard.

Chaud Blaze was leaning against the wall of the plane beside the door. He stood up and walked over to Abbadon and smiled.

"Ah, Chaud Blaze…one of the Electopian Officials…how nice to finally meet you…" Abbadon said, with more seriousness than excitement.

"I'm afraid you won't be leaving anytime soon Abbadon. The police will be here soon and your little operation will be over."

Abbadon smiled and chuckled slightly.

"And what operation would that be, I have no idea what you are talking about."

"You and I both know that you're after the Crystals. And I know that you kidnapped Dr. Hikari, set fire to the Hikari's house, hacked into the Netopian and Electopian government, stole from SciLabs, and many other things. I'd say that you alone have broken just about every law in the book."

After Chaud had spoken Abbadon sighed. Tyrell and Ambika stood, Mei simple sank back into her chair. The two Dark Aero agents moved behind their Director and glared at the young Official. Abbadon chuckled as the airport security guard turned and pointed a gun at Chaud.

"You should never trust people you don't know that well Chaud. Money can make people do such strange things…Take the boy! And make sure that I get his PET!"

Chaud cursed, the guard and the Dark Aero agents moved forward to grab him, he quickly ducked under the guards legs and ran past them all. Abbadon cursed as Chaud ran past him, moving further into the plane.

The Dark Aero agents quickly pursued him, running into another section of plane. Chaud had just ran over to a chair and was hiding behind it. A cart containing foods such as peanuts and other airline food sat against a row of chairs.

The guard moved to the right side of the room and moved toward the chair. Just as the guard was about to reach the chair Chaud burst out from behind it and struck the man in the chest with his foot. The guard tumbled backward and onto the ground, taken by surprise.

The Dark Aero agents spun around toward him and ran at him. Chaud quickly ran to the cart and rammed it toward the agents. The cart hit them and Chaud continued to push it into them, pushing the agents up against the wall.

The guard had stood by now and was rushing toward Chaud. Quickly the teenager turned and ran into the last part of the plane. The guard followed.

The last section of the plane contained more seats, but no carts or good places to hide where anywhere to be found.

Chaud dashed forward, toward the back of the plane where he knew the bathrooms would be. The guard still pursued him as he ran into the bathroom and locked the door. The door was impossible to open from the outside, so Chaud was safe for the time being.

He glanced around the bathroom quickly, and noticed that a small medicine cabinet was over the sink. Quickly Chaud threw the cabinet open and removed just what he needed. All that sat in the cabinet was a first aid kit and some empty bottles.

Chaud took out the first aid kit and opened it. Inside was a length of bandage, some medicine, and a pair of sharp surgical scissors. Chaud took out the scissors and bandage, shut the case and replaced it.

Quickly Chaud glanced around one last time and saw the lid of the toilet was ajar. He picked it up and moved toward the door. The bandage and scissors in his pocket, the lid in his hands, he pressed the button and opened the door.

The guard had been waiting, but hadn't expected the door to open that fast, and Chaud threw the lid at the guard. The guard was hit hard by the lid, which knocked the wind out of the guard as it hit his chest hard.

Chaud burst forward and pulled out the bandage, wrapped it around the guard's mouth, and pushed him into the bathroom. Chaud then pressed the OCCUPIED button and jammed the scissors into the computer board that worked the door. Sparks flew and the door suddenly sucked shut.

Now not even the guard inside the room could open the door.

"So sorry." Chaud said as he ran back down the plane's walkway and reentered the main cabin where he saw that the girl and Abbadon were gone.

Chaud moved forward slowly, reaching the center of the room, and looked around slowly.

Suddenly he cried out as a large object smacked into the back of his head, knocking him to the floor. Chaud lay on the floor unconscious. Abbadon chuckled; he had hid behind the door and jumped out, striking the boy with the handle of his gun right in the center of his head.

Mei stepped out from behind her chair and smiled.

"Now….Mei, tell the captain to take off. Master Kane is waiting for us."


	19. Chapter 19: Haleys Comet

Lan, Lucia, Maylu, Mrs. Hikari, Mr. Sakuria, and Mrs. Sakuria, were all sitting inside Maylu's house. Lan was sitting in a soft white chair across from the couch where the Sakuria family sat. Lan's mom was standing beside him, Lucia was sitting on a barstool she had moved from the kitchen over to the area.

On the Net, Roll, Megaman, and Suki where standing in a small circle in the same positions as their operators. Everyone, human and navi, was worried. The tournament had been fake, everyone that had participated either worked for Dark Aero, was paid to fight, or where Officials who had been sent to investigate.

Crain and Zack, the two who beat Tyrell and Demonman, were Officials sent to investigate Dark Aero. The entire tournament had been fixed; the winner of the tournament was going to be no one. The tournament would never end, it would simply be canceled when the Star Festival would begin, and the entire world put in danger.

"I simply forbid it!" Mrs. Hikari said in a stern mother's voice. Lan had suggested that he, Lucia, Maylu, and their navis all go to the airport with Chaud and stop Dark Aero.

"But mom…"

"No buts, Lan Hikari! You are NOT going back to those people. You could get hurt, or worse!"

Mr. Sakuria sighed. "I agree with Mrs. Hikari, it is dangerous…but I fear that it may the only way to get Dr. Hikari back and stop Dark Aero."

Mrs. Sakuria smiled. "If what you've told us is true, about Dark Aero really wanting something to do with the Crystals and the Star Festival, maybe all of you are the last line of defense we have…"

Mrs. Hikari spun around to them with a hurt face. "But they could be killed! How could you actually allow your daughter to go with them?"

"Lan and Megaman are pretty strong, they've taken good care of themselves and others when they fought World Three and Grave. I believe that they will do fine."

Mrs. Hikari simply sighed and turned to Lan.

"All right…..but please…try not to do anything to dangerous."

Lan stood and hugged his mom.

"It would be best if we hurried." Megaman said. Roll smiled and nodded in agreement.

Lucia, Lan, and Maylu jacked their navis out and all stood. Maylu's parents stood and hugged their daughter, Lan hugged his mom again, and Lucia smiled as she moved toward the door. It was getting late, the sun had fallen and twilight had fallen over all of Electopia.

* * *

The plane had left the airport a long time ago. It was now soaring far above the ocean separating Electopia and Netopia. Darkness had fallen over all of the land, and clouds of white where broken away as the plane smashed through them as it flew it's passengers toward its destination.

Chaud Blaze had been knocked unconscious and thrown into the cargo hold of the plane. He had been tied with some rope to a cart carrying luggage in the center of the room. Across from him was another cart of luggage with a man tied to it.

"….Ugh….where am I?" Chaud asked as he woke up from his little nap.

"We're in the cargo hold of the plane. Dark Aero's the only people on the plane aside from us. I think their taking us to Netopia…" said the man.

"Doctor Hikari…are you ok?"

"Yeah…I'm fine, this rope is a little tight though." The doctor said pulling at the rope, trying to break free.

Chaud sighed. "So…how long have I been out?"

"About an hour. We'll be landing in Netopia in a few more minutes."

Chaud cursed, which caused the doctor to frown. "You shouldn't curse at such a young age…"

"This is just great! We're stuck here, on the plane I was supposed to stop from taking off! Lan was right, and he's probably on his way to the airport to board the plane and rescue you! How is HE supposed to get to Netopia!?"

Dr. Hikari smiled. "So, Lan's been trying to rescue me?"

"Yeah…he wanted me to come and delay Dark Aero so he could get away from the tournament building and find a way to stop them…"

Dr. Hikari smiled and let out a heavy sigh. Chaud pulled at the ropes and after a few minutes gave up. Silence filled the room for what seemed like hours, until Chaud finally decided to speak again.

"….So what is Dark Aero after anyway?"

Dr. Hikari smirked. "Do you know how the Star Festival began?"

"Yeah. Some meteor got caught in the gravitational pull of the planet."

"Right…but that's not entirely true. I'm sure you remember when that comet was going to destroy the planet, and Dr. Regal created that laser to destroy it."

"Yeah, and Laserman came into the real world and almost killed us."

"Correct, then Nebula took over the Net. Now, supposedly, the laser device was destroyed. But it wasn't, SciLabs actually dismantled the laser and hid it away. A few years ago another large meteor came close to the planet, it passed by every so often…Haleys Comet.

Well…SciLabs got worried that the comet might stray off its path and destroy the planet. So they had the laser rebuilt, and fired at the comet. All that remains is a small section of comet that circles the planet all year long, the Millennium Star.

When the comet was hit it shattered into eight pieces, one remains in space, and the others fell to the planet. Each one is made from strange crystals that together could be used as an unlimited energy source. Each shard has crystals of a different color, and where named accordingly, Ruby red, Sapphire blue, Amethyst purple, Topaz yellow, Emerald green, Diamond white, and Obsidian black."

Dr. Hikari paused and took a breath before continuing.

"Dark Aero wants the Crystals for some reason…but…I don't know why. All they said is that they must have them all, and Abbadon told me one thing before he threw me in here."

"What was that?" Chaud asked.

"…He was going to be the savior of the world…"


	20. Chapter 20: Beginning of the End

Lan and the group ran into the Den Tech Airport and screeched to a halt. Security guards where running wild, all flights had been shut down due to a sudden, and unauthorized, take off by a plane containing members of Dark Aero.

The guards had believed the plane to have been hijacked, so the entire airport was now in chaos. Guards in blue and grey uniforms ran all around, people who had been denied their flights where fighting with workers over refunds, and the head of the airport was almost in tears at the chaos erupting around him.

Lan ran over to the security desk and slammed his fist down onto the counter.

"What's going on?" Lan asked the guard on the other side of the desk.

"A plane left the station about an hour ago with no permits. We've been trying to find it and force it to land!"

"Who was onboard?" Lan asked as Maylu and Lucia walked up to him.

The guard sighed. "Look kid…"

"No you listen to me! WHO WAS ON THE PLANE!" Lan yelled, causing everyone in the room to suddenly shut their mouths and turn to the group.

"Uh…it was… some people from Dark Aero, some Netopian company…" the guard said, surprised by how angry Lan had became.

Lan cursed and spun around toward the loading area of the port. Maylu and Lucia ran over to him as he began to work his way out of the airport toward the hanger containing all the plans. A guard ran over toward them and stopped them.

"Hey! You can't go in there!"

Lan sighed. "Look! Dark Aero's plane was told to stay here by an Official that was sent here not long ago, Chaud Blaze. He ordered them to remain here at the airport! The people on the plan are bad guys, they kidnapped my father and where holding him hostage on the plane!"

The security guard frowned. "It's not nice to make up stories about people you don't know."

Maylu and Lucia stepped forward. "It's true! Really!"

The guard merely laughed at them. But suddenly Lan tought of the man at the desk.

"HEY! YOU!" Lan yelled to the man, who jumped slightly.

"Yes?"

"I want you to look in the records here and see if Chaud Blaze comes up on anything!" Lan yelled.

Maylu smiled and turned to Lan. "Wow Lan, good thinking!"

Lan smiled. "Thanks…"

The guard typed some keys and waited a moment.

"…The boys right…Chaud Blaze came in here over an hour ago and took a group of security guards to stop a flight. He and the guards didn't return……and the plane took off right after!"

The guard at the door cursed.

"So this means that you ARE telling the truth….."

Lucia sighed. "Are there any pilots here? We need someone to fly us to Netopia to stop that plane!" she cried to the people in the room. Everyone shook their heads "no" and glanced around at each other.

"…I know how to fly a plane." A voice said from across the room.

Everyone turned to see a boy in a black T-shirt. He had blond hair that was spiked up on his head, blue eyes, and a tanned complexion. He moved forward and Lan recognized him right away. It was Zack, the boy that was fighting Tyrell in the tournament.

"Hey, your that boy that was fighting in the tournament." Lan said.

"Yep. I'm Zack, I'm one of the Officials that was sent to investigate Chaud's sudden disappearance. He had alerted the other Officials in Netopia, and here in Electopia, about Dark Aero. When his communications ceased I was sent to investigate."

Maylu smiled. "So you know how to fly a plane?"

"Yeah. My dad used to be a flight instructor, and he taught me how."

The guard stepped forward. "Look, I'm sorry. But I can't let a kid fly a plane. It's against the law."

Zack moved toward the guard with a frown. "Come on…you don't have to file a report. And besides, I can say it was Officials' business."

The guard sighed. "……Fine….."

With that Zack, Lan, Maylu, and Lucia rushed through the gate and out toward the planes. It was time to stop Dark Aero, all that divided them from the enemy was an ocean of clear blue water.

* * *

Lightning flashed as the rain patted against the windows of a large business building. The building was made of white brick and metal. It was brightly lit, brightly painted, and brightly designed. The entire city was built in a circle around the building. The city was called Rina, a large busy Netopian city.

The building was not much different from any other large business building. It was tall, containing sixty-six floors, painted white, and covered in glass windows. But the strangest thing about the building was the large DA painted on all four sides of the building.

Dark Aero Headquarters, the largest research facility in all of Netopia. Atop the building was a helicopter landing pad, surrounding the building was other smaller buildings that contained even more parts of the research facility, all linked together by halls of white tile floor and blinding white walls.

On the sixty-sixth floor, the top floor of the entire building inside the Directors office, sat a man in a clean black suit. He wore a spotless black suit and black tie, over a white shirt. His pants where black, and contained not a single wrinkle or crease. He had shiny black dress shoes over white socks and black leather gloves on his hands.

He wore the gloves not for warmth, but for protection. His right hand had been badly burned in an accident concerning acid, so he wore the glove to hide the scars and horrid look of his hand. He carried a cane with a silver falcon on the top.

He had silver hair that had once been black but had turned grey over the years, his eyes where a dull grey, but quite kind and filled with life. He wore a pair of black rimmed glasses that sat on the end of his nose. His skin contained not a wrinkle, though many believe him to be quiet old.

He was sitting in a black leather chair, at a dark red oak desk in a red carpeted room with dim light and many paintings, plants, and sculptures along the walls. On the wall behind the desk was the large Dark Aero symbol, it was also on the roof of the room, and on the large rug in the center of the room.

At the south end of the room was an elevator that led to the other sixty-five rooms of the building. And above the elevator was an electric clock that ticked slowly, showing 6:45 P.M.

The plane from Electopia had been scheduled to leave at 9:00 A.M. But it had been delayed by the airport, and by the Electopian Officials, and didn't leave until 11:00 A.M. Then the plane had stopped to refuel at 2:00 P.M, in a small coastal town, before making its way to Netopia.

The plane finally landed in Netopia, in the town of London at 4:00 P.M. And the guests would be arriving any minute, after driving from London across the Sky Way Bridge, through six other towns and into the heart of Rina.

Abbadon, Tyrell, Ambika, Mei, Dr. Hikari, and Chaud Blaze, the passengers of the plane, had followed such a routine and where just now arriving outside the large Dark Aero building. The man in the chair smiled and chuckled as his guests had made their arrival time, early by mere minutes.

The man in the building was named Kane; in fact he was Sir Kane. The sole owner of Dark Aero, boss of Abbadon, and mastermind to the plans that would transpire in mere hours. It was a mere matter of time, 29 hours and 55 minutes to be exact. In that time, on midnight of the Star Festival, it would all come into alignment.

The Crystals would shine.

The Stars would fall.

The Sun would flare.

The Moon would beam.

And the world….would die…

It was the beginning….

The beginning of the end.


	21. Chapter 21: The Father

Lan, Maylu, and Lucia all sat in a small plane being piloted by Zack. Zack had convinced the guards at the airport that he knew enough about flying to be allowed to fly the plane for the group. Since he was an Official, all was currently investigating Dark Aero; he had been allowed to fly.

The group was almost to Netopia, it was a mere matter of minutes before they could land and follow Dark Aero.

Lan was sitting in a simple white seat his PET in his lap. Megaman was staring at him, talking about what they should do when they land, but Lan wasn't listening. He was nervous. He, Maylu, Lucia, and their navis, where flying in a plane piloted by a boy they barely knew, going to go and fight a powerful group who had enough influence in Netopia to make even the police side with them.

It was almost a hopeless endeavor…almost…

Lan was determined to save his father. That was what had kept him going. He wouldn't rest until everyone was safe, and Dark Aero was defeated.

"……Lan are you even listening to me?" Megaman asked after a moment.

Lan jumped into life. "Yeah…I heard you."

Maylu was sitting across from Lan, and giggled as she heard the conversation going on between operator and navi.

"Alright…what did I just tell you?"

Lan smiled nervously. "Uh…..something about…..Dark Aero?"

Megaman sighed and put his head in his hands. "Why do I put up with you?"

Roll and Maylu both started to giggle, which as we all know is contagious, followed by Lucia, Lan, and then Megaman and Suki.

"So…Mega…" Roll said shyly. "….Um….are you going to be spending the Star Festival with anyone?"

Megaman blushed and stammered as he spoke. "W-Well…..N-No….I don't have anyone…..Why?"

Maylu and Lan both started to giggle. Roll and Megaman were both blushing more and more.

"….Well….I was wondering if you might want to…..ya know….we could…."

Megaman who acted, quite simple, stupid when he was embarrassed said. "We could what?"

Lucia burst into laughter.

"For the love of….She's trying to ask you out stupid!" Lucia cried.

Roll burst into a bright red blush along with Megaman.

"R-Really?" Megaman asked, his voice actually breaking due to nerves.

"….Yeah….If you want to…."

Suddenly Zack's voice came over the intercom. He sounded worried and tired at the same time, and it seemed like he was having a hard time making the words form together into sentences. Clearly something was wrong.

"Uh…Guys….we've got a problem… two helicopters with the Dark Aero insignia on them are following us…..and they've got big guns!"

* * *

The elevator stopped on the sixty-sixth floor of the building. Inside the elevator stood Abbadon, dressed in a new black suit and red tie, Tyrell, in a black button-up shirt with flames on it, Ambika, with a black dress with sequins on it, Mei, also in a black dress, Chaud Blaze, and Dr. Hikari.

The group stepped forward and got out of the elevator, stepping into a dark office with red carpet. On the far end of the room was a dark oak desk in front of a black leather chair. Two plants sat on each side of the desk, two more in the back corners.

A painting of a mountain scene hung on the east wall, another of a lake on the west, two others on the north and south wall contained pictures of a valley and port town respectively. Along with these painting simple sculptures of famous writers and painters sat around the room.

The room looked more like a museum than it did an office.

Sitting in the black leather chair was a man in a black suit with silver hair and grey eyes. He was sipping from his cup of, what appeared to be tea. He stood and smiled at his guests as they walked inside.

"Ah, welcome home. I have been wondering when you would return to Netopia." The man said in a very thick Netopian accent.

"We are quite glad to be back sir. How is the operation running?" Abbadon asked with a bow.

"Quite well. All the Crystals are here and locked in place. It's almost time for the fun to begin." Said the man with a dark chuckle.

Chaud couldn't help but speak. "So how is destroying to world going to help you!?"

The man turned to look at Chaud and frowned. "You really should learn respect for your elders young man, and speak only when spoken too. But, since you asked, I shall tell you." The man paused and took a drink from his cup before clearing his throat and beginning.

"This world has done many things that it shouldn't have. Pollution is a large problem, it always has been. And now with the Network running everything, people barely do any work! The entire world has just been sitting back, and letting the world run itself! This is clearly one of mankind's largest flaws…"

"Now I'm sure you know, the Network was created to help people, and help it did. But as time wore on people depended more and more on the Network, and now everyone in the world has a stupid PET and a Net Navi, who does all the work that you should do! It's pitiful! Laziness, pure stupidity and laziness!"

"So I am going to help the world. By having the Millennium Star crash into the planet thousands will die, the Network will shatter, and people will see just how much they have fallen. In years past people built empires of stone and iron to control the world, which has been replaced by an empire of electricity, computers, and programs!"

Chaud rolled his eyes at the man, who suddenly stood and lashed out with his cane, striking Chaud on the shoulder.

"Now listen here boy! If I was to destroy your PET, what would you do? Would you return to your normal life without such a device? Or would you go and find a new one?"

Chaud sighed and the man smiled darkly. "See…people depend too much on technology to solve their problems, when they can do it just as well!"

The man lowered himself back into his chair and gripped his hands on the arms of the chair. Dr. Hikari stepped forward and raised his voice as he spoke.

"And what do you need with me!?"

The man laughed and turned his chair to the window behind him.

"It's quite simple. I need you to help me carry out this plan."

Dr. Hikari chuckled. "And just how am I going to help you? I don't know anything about how the Crystals work!"

The man turned his chair back to the group and stood. He walked over to Dr. Hikari, limping as he walked while supporting himself with his cane. He walked right up to the doctor and smiled a toothy grin.

"No….but you can tell the Netopian and Electopian government to give me the security codes to turn off the barriers on the Crystals, and you can tell SciLabs to turn over Dr. Regals laser device…and I'm sure you would listen to me doctor…"

Dr. Hikari smiled. "I'll never help you…"

The man turned and walked toward his desk and pressed a button underneath the table top. A large projector screen slid down behind him and an image flickered into life. It was a live video streaming from two separate helicopters that where flying over the ocean. A small airplane was flying ahead of them.

"On this plane is your son, his best friend, and a traitor from our own company as well as a young Official. In my hand here," he said showing Dr. Hikari a small black device with a large red button on top, "is a detonation switch. If I press this button a bomb will ignite onboard the plane, and it will fall into the ocean. And on the off chance that it doesn't fall, my copters will shoot it out of the sky."

The man chuckled and walked back to Dr. Hikari.

"Follow my orders and their lives will be spared…break my rules…and I'm afraid your son may become food for the sharks."

Dr. Hikari swallowed; a small trail of sweat fell from his brow. Lan was on that plane with Maylu, trying to come and stop Dark Aero. If he disobeyed Dark Aero's orders they would be killed…

After a long moment of silence, which consisted of high tension and overactive nerves on all members present, the doctor spoke. His voice was broken and defeated. His head slumped down in defeat.

"…..Alright…..I'll do whatever you want…just…please….leave the children alone…"

The man smiled and sat down in his chair, spinning his cane as he walked.

"Ah, good. Now, my name is Kane…Sir Kane…I am the what you would call, Father of Dark Aero… Welcome to Hell Dr. Hikari…"


	22. Chapter 22: Rainbow

Lan suddenly jumped up and rushed to the cockpit of the plane. Zack was sitting in the pilot's seat, he was clutching the controls so tightly his knuckles where white. Lan moved into a small l co-pilots seat and looked over at him.

"So? Are they still following us?" Lan asked.

The two Dark Aero helicopters had been following the group for about the last hour. The copters never fired, sped up, or anything. They stayed on course and followed close behind. Zack had been very calm in flying the plane, but he would react when he needed to if they were in danger.

"Yeah…" he said with a deep breath.

Lan sighed. He opened his mouth to speak when suddenly the radio came on. A man's voice came on, it was gruff and deep. He sounded icy and menacing, his words sending a chill down the boy's spines.

"Unidentified flight, this is Dark Aero Escort. You are ordered to land at the Green Field Airport immediately. If you do not comply you will be shot down. We will fire one warning shot before you are blasted out of the sky. Do you copy?"

Zack and Lan both tensed up. Zack pressed a button and spoke into the radio.

"This is Unidentified flight to Dark Aero Escort. We have heard your orders. We will land at the Green Field Airport as soon as we reach it."

There was a pause and Lan thought the helicopters had gone away, until the radio came on again.

"Agreed. You will arrive at the airport in about 2 nautical miles. Land immediately, all landing permits have been granted."

Lan cursed under his breath. All this way and Dark Aero was going to capture them too!

* * *

Sir Kane marched down a long white hall. His black shoes clicked against the tiled floor, causing the hall to echo with even louder clicks. He limped slightly, supporting himself with his cane. His eyes were filled with a deep anger.

Behind him marched Abbadon and a group of guards in black uniforms. The guards were pointing guns at the two men in front of them, Chaud and Dr. Hikari. The two prisoners, referred to as guests by Kane, had been cuffed and weren't allowed to speak to anyone.

Chaud glanced over at Dr. Hikari, who had a worried look on his face. Since Kane had told him about the helicopters armed to destroy the plane he had been silent and looked tired.

The group walked down the long hall, through an archway, and into a large courtyard like area. In the center of the area was a large machine, being constructed from the ground up. Above the group was a ceiling of glass which showed the night sky far above.

The area had nicely cut green grass and small flowerbeds in the edges of the courtyard. A large cobblestone path stretched from one side of the yard to the other, a massive square in the center where the machine was sitting. Small trees and bushes where all around the yard; it looked almost like a castle courtyard.

Sir Kane stepped toward the large machine and turned to the group.

"Everyone…I would like you to see the new and improved Blue Moon laser: Shadow Star! Shadow Star, by drawing on the energy of the Crystals, will have enough power to actually blast at the Millennium Star. This laser with have enough force to break the star into even more shards and shower them down on the planet, and of course should that plan not work it also has a handy little feature. This laser can also act as a tractor beam to pull the star from its orbit, as well as fire the different Crystals powers into space."

Chaud and Dr. Hikari gasped as they saw the large machine that would soon bring an end to the world. The guards nudged their guns into the prisoners' backs, causing them to lurch forward.

"Now…I'm sure you would like to see this little machine in action, eh?"

Kane snapped his fingers and a man in a white lab coat ran over to him. The man spoke a few words in a hushed voice and gestured to the machine. Kane nodded and the man ran off again.

Suddenly a large pane of glass from the ceiling slid away and the top of the laser rose up slightly. The laser was beginning to power up. That was when Chaud saw the seven large tubes that were connected to the machine. Each one had some sort of energy flowing from the insides of the buildings to the machine. The tubes were in different colors, red, blue, green, yellow, purple, white, and black.

The energy flowed into the laser, which hummed into life. The laser lifted higher and higher, and a loud screeching sound filled the air as the laser was building in power. A large ball of energy, rainbow in color, was growing in the center of the machine.

Chaud and Dr. Hikari gasped as the ball suddenly shot upward and blasted out of the tip of the laser. A line of pure energy, siphoned from the Crystals hidden in the building, shot upward into the sky, blasting through clouds and illuminating the night sky.

The energy continued upward and burst into a thousand streaks of light, the blast had never hit anything, but when it burst away even down inside the building Chaud could feel the sheer power of the blast.

It was normal for the city to have, what had been called, "rainbow lights" strange bursts of rainbow light. The lights had been blamed on the fact that the Millennium Star was close to the planet, but in reality it was a lie manufactured, and paid to be endorsed, by Dark Aero.

The force of the blast had been great. Chaud could just imagine what it would be like for the blast to strike something like the Millennium Star, of even worse something like the moon!

"So? What do you think of the Shadow Star? Pretty powerful isn't it?" Kane asked.

"Yeah…" Chaud muttered, hard to believe what was happening.

* * *

The plane had touched down. Lan, Maylu, Lucia, and Zack had all gotten out of the plane and now stood in the airport. It was strange, not one airport worker, not one citizen, not a person was in the airport. The only people there where the people from the helicopters, and a few people in black uniforms.

Lan moved forward slowly. "What's going on here?" He asked in a confused voice.

A group of men in black moved forward toward the group, cornering them between the men from the helicopter who stood behind them. The men produced guns, which were loaded and pointed directly at the group. Maylu tried to back away, eventually bumping into the guards.

"I'm afraid you need to come with us. Sir Kane would like to see you."

With that Lan, Maylu, Lucia, and Zack where forced out of the airport, into a black car, and taken away. Taken to the Dark Aero headquarters to meet Sir Kane.

And in the distance Lan could just make out the strange burst of light over the tallest building. The burst broke into hundreds of rainbow colored streaks before falling away. The burst light the entire sky up like day.

The end of the world would come, in bursts of magnificent fireworks.


	23. Chapter 23: Run, Only to be Found

Chaud was led into a small dark room. In the center of the room was a black table, made of metal and bolted to the floor. A single chair sat at the table, no windows or decorations filled the room. Chaud smiled, the room almost looked like a sort of interrogation room that you would see on cop shows.

Chaud was forced into the room by a guard, and then forced into the chair. The room was heated by a vent over Chaud head, the air blew directly down onto him as he squirmed in the chair. The guard smiled and turned toward the door.

"Make yourself comfortable…your gonna be here a long time!" the guard said as he walked out, slamming the door behind himself.

Chaud sighed. There were clearly no cameras in the room, yet he couldn't help feeling like he was being watched. Slowly he stood from the chair, waiting to see if something would happen. Nothing…

Chaud smirked and pulled on his wrists. His hands squeezed right out of the cuffs. When the group had left Sir Kane's office, Chaud had taken a paperclip from the desk. He had used the clip to then pick the lock on his cuffs, luckily the guards hadn't noticed.

Chaud placed the cuffs on the table and glanced around. He was free, but no one had rushed in to bind him again. So apparently, no one must have been watching him.

So he sprang into action…

Quickly he took the chair, climbed onto the table, and picked up the chair. It hadn't been bolted to the floor, and Chaud could now use it. He placed the chair on top of the table and climbed up to the vent.

The vent was small, but just big enough for Chaud to fit inside. He just needed something to undo the screws with…or maybe pry the vent open. Chaud glanced around for such an object and saw that another room was attached to his.

Jumping down he walked to the door and opened it. The room was a small bathroom, containing just a simple toilet and shower…

Chaud smirked. He stood up on the toilet, which was next to the shower, and pulled on the shower curtain rod. The rod popped out of place easily, and Chaud pulled the curtain off.

Walking back to the vent he rammed the rod into it. Striking it with enough force might have been able to break it, and it worked. A small dent was in the center of the vent. Chaud rammed again and again, until a small hole was made. He then pushed the bar in and pried the vent out of place.

Dropping the bar and the vent Chaud climbed inside the vent. He was crowded between two walls of the air duct. He could move either north or south. He chose north.

Moving along the vent Chaud could hear conversations from other rooms, flowing up into the vent, but as Chaud began to move he noticed something. His shoes where hitting the vent hard enough to make a noticeable sound. So quietly he slid his feet out of his shoes, and continued on his way.

It was going to be a long crawl, but soon he would reach his destination. All he needed to do was find the room where his PET had been taken. When Kane had taken him prisoner, he had the guards confiscate his PET. But Chaud knew where his PET was, in the security room a mere six doors down from his own room.

It wouldn't take long for the guards to realize he was missing, especially if they came to bring him something like food, or to talk to him. So Chaud moved fast, hoping that once he got his PET he could find out just what was happening inside the Dark Aero complex.

* * *

Sir Kane, Dr. Hikari, and the members of Dark Aero, where standing on a balcony overlooking a large factory floor. The factory was used to make devices for PET's, and was connected to the Dark Aero complex. The main building, two research buildings, three living quarters, and the factory all connected to make up the Dark Aero complex.

Sir Kane was leaning on his cane, a cup of tea in his other hand. He was looking down at the factory floor, which had been cleared out of all machines except for the ones being brought in. Large machines used to suction power from the Crystals.

In the center of the room was an elevated area with seven circles, six in a circle and one in the center. All of the circles had wires connecting them together, and then running from each circle out to many different rooms.

On each circle was a large chunk of what looked like rock. Each one was made of black rock, hard as metal, and large crystals sticking out of them like stalagmites in a cave. Each crystal was long and sharp, and colored different depending on the chunk.

At the top of the circle was one with red crystals, to the right of it yellow, green, blue, purple, white, and black in the center of the circle. All the crystals where glowing, letting off light of their respective colors. People in white lab coats, with the Dark Aero symbol, walked all around the area checking machines and cords.

Dr. Hikari coughed, breaking the silence that had been held in the room.

"So…these are the Crystals?" Abbadon asked as he stepped forward, Tyrell and Ambika at his side.

"Yes…these Crystals, when placed together as they are now, have enough collective power to equal that of twenty nuclear bombs. On their own the Crystals are powerful enough, but since they have been assembled together their power has grown."

Tyrell stepped forward, toward Sir Kane, and spoke softly.

"Sir…just how did you get the Crystals? I know that we already had the Sapphire, and we took the Ruby, Amethyst, and Emerald ones from SciLabs, Netopia, and Electopia, but how did you get Topaz, , Diamond, and Obsidian?"

Sir Kane chuckled and turned to Tyrell.

"Why, that is a very nice question Tyrell. Where to start…well, the Topaz Crystal was in Netfrica. I was able to convince the government there to hand over the Crystal…they just needed some…monetary motivation."

Abbadon smiled and spoke this time. "The Diamond Crystal was in Sharo. It was easy to get, I just had one of my agents…shall we say, heat things up a bit. It's a good thing that his navi controls fire…"

Tyrell smirked. Kane had a strange way of getting what he wanted, but he always did get it.

"And what about Obsidian?" Tyrell asked after a moment.

Kane turned to Dr. Hikari and chuckled.

"I'm sure the good doctor knows….go on, tell him…"

Dr. Hikari sighed.

"…..When all the other Crystals are presented together at Star Hill a door hiding the Obsidian Crystal opens…"

Tyrell smiled. "You mean that the Obsidian Crystal was right below the tournament grounds at Star Hill, the entire time!?"

Abbadon grinned and chuckled darkly. "Yes." He said simply.

The gropu was just about to return to watching the people on the factory floor when a sudden alarm went off. Red crisis lights came on all over the building, and a computerized voice came over the intercom.

"WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! UNOTHORISED ENTRY IN SECURITY ROOM! UNOTHEROISED ENTRY IN SECURITY ROOM!"


	24. Chapter 24: Welcome to the Team

Sir Kane rushed down the hall, limping badly. Behind him was a group of about twenty guards, all armed and ready to shoot down the intruder in the Security Room. Kane burst through the door, and cried out as he was struck in the chest with a foot.

Kane stumbled backward, and without being able to stop himself, hit the floor with a thud. Chaud Blaze jumped out of the room and blasted down the hall. The guards turned and fired toward Chaud, who ducked, slid, and spun around the corner.

Chaud could hear the clicking of shoes on the tiled floor as the guards gave chase. Sir Kane stood and waved his cane in the air like a sword.

"KILL THAT BOY!" He yelled as the guards thundered by.

* * *

Lan, Maylu, Lucia, and Zack where led into a large open room of a factory. Before them sat seven large chunks of rock, the Crystals. Lan gasped, in awe of the power he could feel radiating off the stones before him.

Just as the group had entered the room Lan heard a shout.

"LAN!"

The group turned to see Dr. Hikari standing on a balcony, Abbadon, Tyrell, Mei, and Ambika around him.

"DAD!" Lan yelled, moving forward from the group.

Maylu and Lucia smiled, Zack merely starred daggers at the guard pointing a gun at him.

"Lan…thank God your safe…I thought you where-"

"-How touching…this truly brings tears to my eyes." Interrupted Abbadon with a sarcastic sigh.

"Shut up Abbadon! You leave my dad alone!" Lan yelled.

"Ah, how rude…Sir Kane insisted that you all be left alive…but he didn't say we couldn't have a little battle."

Lan smirked, pulling his PET, which hadn't been taken away by the guards yet, out of its case.

"Bring it on old man!"

Abbadon burst into laughter, holding onto the railing to keep from falling over it.

"Oh, now, now, we won't be fighting…no, you will be fighting Mei."

Mei, the little girl in a black dress, stepped forward. Abbadon produced a small remote from his pocket and pressed a button. Suddenly the ground under Mei dropped down slowly, creating an elevator of sorts.

A man in a white coat pushed a machine in between Mei and Lan. There were two areas to jack in; this would be their playing field.

Maylu and Lucia where grabbed by the arms by two guards and pulled toward the elevator. Zack was gripped fiercely and pulled along with them. Lan was left to fight Mei alone.

Mei smiled and jacked in her navi. Lan flowed suit and jacked in Megaman. Just like in the tournament they would have an audience, Dark Aero, and Lan's friends and family.

------------------------------------------------------BATTLE------------------------------------------------

Megaman stood in a darkly lit area. The floor had many holes in it and some areas had electric surges bolting across them. Across from him, across a large gap, was a navi. His opponent, the last of the Dark Aero navis he hadn't met.

The navi was a girl; she had short brown hair that fell down to her shoulders, her eyes where a dark purple. She wore a helmet like Megaman's, only it was black and purple. She wore a black dress over a dark blue bodysuit. She had black boots that went up her leg halfway, laced in white. Her gloves where grew, and a metal ring was on her wrist. Her symbol was set in her chest, an ivory sword with a red rose wrapped around it.

The navi smiled, her lips had been coated with black lipstick.

"Hello Megaman. I'm Desira."

Megaman readied himself for the fight. "Hello."

Desira stepped forward, right up to the large gap.

"Are you ready Megaman?"

"Ready…"

Desira smiled and raised her hands into the air; they burst away and reshaped themselves as two large scimitars. The weapons shinned in the dim light of the area, reflecting some light from far off in the distance. They seemed so sharp that they could slice through anything, and Megaman could only imagine the blades across his throat…

Megaman walked forward as Lan inserted a chip, a Sword. Megaman's right arm blasted away and reshaped itself as a long glowing sword. It was time to fight!

Desira suddenly jumped forward, across the gap, spinning as she sailed through the air. Megaman flipped backward just as the navi touched the ground nearby.

Desira lashed out with her blade, only to have it locked into contact with Megaman's blade. Megaman pushed toward the navi, surprised by her strength. Desira smiled and brought her second sword down; Megaman broke their contact and flipped away from the blade.

Lan cursed and removed a chip from his case. "Double Sword battle chip IN!"

Megaman's hands burst into data again and, this time both hands, reformed as two large swords. The swords where longer than the past one, but not as thick. Megaman smiled and lunged at Desira.

Desira spun to the side and lashed out with her foot, tripping Megaman. Megaman stumbled, and almost fell off into the gap, but regained his composure, and before she could strike, spun around a sliced at Desira.

Desira screamed as a small cut appeared on her cheek. She hadn't been expecting the navi to regain himself so fast, and had taken a small cut. The cut was minor, only an inch long, but data flowed out of it in small sparks.

Megaman dashed forward and sliced at Desira. The navi had expected a counter attack and retaliated by striking an uppercut, the blow just barely missed Megaman. Megaman jumped into the air and slammed downward with his blade, but Desira had moved out of the way.

Unfortunately for Desira, she hadn't moved fast enough…

Megaman came crashing down, his sword piercing down toward the ground, and struck Desira's leg as she was trying to move. The navi screamed and hit the floor, Megaman's blade stuck into her leg. Megaman smirked at her and pulled the sword from her leg.

A large gash was set into her leg and data was streaming from it. Mei screamed for her navi, tears welling up inside her.

"Desira! Oh…are you alright!?" She cried.

Desira took a deep breath. "….I can't move….I'm done……You win Megaman…."

Abbadon cursed. Lan looked up at him, and watched him and the others leave. Dr. Hikari was grabbed forcefully and pushed out of the room with them. Maylu, Lucia, and Zack where all left on the balcony. They tried to run through the door after the group, but the guards had bolted the door from the inside.

Mei jacked out her navi and fell to the floor, holding her PET to her chest.

Lan sighed and jacked out Megaman.

Slowly Lan made his way over to the girl…she was too young to see the horrors that Dark Aero was going to do…too young to see her navi die.

Lan stretched his hand out to the little girl, who sniffed and looked up at him.

"Come on…don't worry, we're not gonna fight anymore."

Mei, hesitantly, took Lan's hand and pulled herself up.

"…Thank you…."

Lan looked confused. "For what?"

"….Thank you for not killing Desira. I know you could have easily killed her just now…thank you….I don't know what I'd do without her…and…"

"And?" Lan asked, curious by the look on the child's face.

The girl paused, taking a deep breath.

"…I always wanted to be with my big brother, no matter where he went. But…since he joined Dark Aero…since he started doing all these bad things he's been telling me to run away! To get away from all the bad things going on…I don't like what Dark Aero is doing…I just want to be with my brother…"

Lan smiled.

"…So does that mean you'll help us stop Abbadon?"

Mei nodded. Desira smiled. "I'm glad you've made that choice Mei. Dark Aero is too dangerous for a young girl like you."

Lan smiled and moved toward the elevator, Maylu, Lucia, and Zack all standing at the top of it.

"Come on! If you want to help us then let's go!"

With a last look at the Dark Aero building, Desira looked at her shoulder. Each member of Dark Aero wore a patch on their shoulder with the symbol on it. Quickly she tore it off, stomped on it, and then hurried toward the elevator.

Time was growing short, but yet another addition to the team had been made.

Desira, Roll, Megaman, Suki, Crain…Protoman…

Mei, Maylu, Lan, Lucia, Zack, …Chaud…

The team was almost ready…the time had almost come…

The stars had begun to align, the Millennium Star was shining brightly, it was time for the end…

26 hours remained…….


	25. Chapter 25: Seven Heroes

Chaud Blaze kicked out with his foot and knocked a door open. Running inside he found himself in another hallway.

"What is with all this damn hallways!" Chaud cried as he ran down the hall toward another door.

Protoman sighed from his PET. "Master Chaud…it might be better if we find out where Lan and Dr. Hikari are before we going running about…"

Chaud sighed. "Fine, you try and send him a message. I'm gonna try and get away from these idiots with guns." Just as Chaud said that another bullet was fired. The guards had found him!

Protoman sent out a short message to Megaman, with the hopes that it would arrive quickly.

"Megaman…

Where are you and Lan? Master Chaud is….lost…

Hurry."

* * *

Lan slammed his fist down on the door.

"DAMN! They locked us out!" Lan yelled as his fist came down on the door again.

Megaman sighed from his PET. "Lan…"

Maylu and Lucia both turned and walked to the edge of the balcony and looked over the floor of the factory. The factory was the southernmost area of the entire complex. Only two halls connected it to the rest of the complex.

"Lan…we can still get to them…we just need to take the hall we came here in." Maylu said.

"I know…it's just….we were so close…" Lan said moving away from the door.

Zack smiled. "Don't worry. They won't kill you dad, it seems that they need him alive."

Lan smiled slightly, Zack was right. So far they hadn't harmed the doctor, which meant they must be needing him. Maybe there was some hope still!

The group ran to the elevator, took it down to the factory floor, and ran through the south door. Just as the group had moved through the door Lan's PET lit up.

"Lan! We got a message from Chaud!"

Lan screeched to a halt. "Open it!"

Megaman opened the message and read it to Lan.

"Megaman…can you find out where they are by the message?"

Megaman frowned. "I think I can trace it… why?"

"…I've got a bad feeling…"

Megaman spent a few moments in silence scanning for Protoman's signal. Lan was getting more and more nervous as the time passed by. There was still at least 24 hours of time left before the laser would fire, but the more time he waited the closer that time came.

"….Right! Got it! He's in the Research Building D#, it's just up this hall!" Megaman said.

"Right, let's go! We have to help Chaud!"

The team burst through a door, into another hallway. They ran forward yet again, trying to find a way into the hall Chaud was in. All the halls looked alike, and Lan nearly cried out in disgust as he opened the door at the end of the hall to find himself in another hallway!

Again the team ran through another hall, and another, and another. Seconds…minutes…hours… Time continued to pass as the group tried to find the end of the halls.

"How many halls are in this place!" Lan yelled when they came to the end of another hall.

Lucia and Mei smiled, and at the same time spoke: "A lot!"

Maylu giggled and ran forward to another door, just as she was about to open it she screamed.

The sound of a gunshot rang out!

Lan and Zack ran forward toward Maylu and Lucia and Mei, grapping them and pushing them to the floor. They stay on the floor until a short gun battle died away. The team they burst through the door and was horrified by what they saw.

Tyrell was standing at the center of the room, a gun in his hand. A group of guards lie on the floor, blood pooling from their bodies. Chaud was on his knees behind Tyrell, panting and holding his right arm.

Lan, Zack, and Maylu burst forward, running to Chaud's side. Mei and Lucia ran over to Tyrell.

"Chaud…are you alright?" Maylu asked.

"Yeah…fine…the guards got my arm, but it's not too bad…" Chaud said with a groan as the group helped him to his feet.

Lan smiled.

"What happened?"

Chaud sighed. "The guards locked me in a cell. I broke out by the air vent and made my way to the Security Room to get my PET. Kane and the guards were waiting for me, and they've been chasing me since then."

"You're lucky you're still alive." Megaman said.

Chaud smiled. "Yeah…"

Then the group turned to Tyrell. "He saved me…" Chaud said.

Mei tugged on Tyrell's sleeve with a smile. "Big brother? Are you ok?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Tyrell's face was contorted in disgust, fear, and hate. The gun was still pointed toward the dead guards. Lucia took Tyrell's arm and eased it down to his side, she then pressed on his hand so he would release the gun.

"…….Mei…..I-I'm fine…" Tyrell said, his face returning to its normal look as he turned to the girl, and away from the guards.

Mei hugged to her brother. Tyrell smiled and held to her. Lucia and Maylu sighed happily, it was kinda sweet seeing the family get together again. Maylu could only imagine how scared Mei must have been, knowing how evil Abbadon was, and still wanting to work against him.

Chaud stepped toward Tyrell, Tyrell broke his hug and smiled at Chaud.

"So…why did you help me?"

"Because…I've followed Abbadon for years…but…he's not been acting himself lately. All he cares about is the stupid Crystals, and firing that dumb laser. He actually showed no remorse when Kane wanted the guards to shoot you! Your just a kid! I can't let myself work with someone like him…someone who would kill mere children…I mean, I have to help look after Mei!"

Mei smiled and held onto her brother. Tyrell smiled and looked down at her.

Lan stepped forward. "So…does that mean you'll help us?"

Tyrell nodded.

"Count me in! Dark Aero WAS a good company, but…I can't allow them to kill millions of people."

So the team had grown.

Megaman, Crain, Roll, Suki, Demonman, Desira, and Protoman. Seven navis…

Lan, Zack, Maylu, Lucia, Tyrell, Mei, Chaud. Seven operators.

Ruby, Sapphire, Topaz, Amethyst, Diamond, Emerald, and Obsidian. Seven Crystals.

Seven heroes…seven Crystals…

The final battle was ahead.

Iblis…Kane…Abbadon…Ambika…Mallory…they await.

The end of the world would come soon; a mere 24 hours remained…


	26. Finale Pt1: Battle on the Bridge

The group ran back into the room where Lan and Mei had fought. Tyrell had told them that he knew the code to open the door and go straight to where the rest of Dark Aero was. The door had been bolted, but it was operated by a computer with a pass code lock.

Tyrell ran over to the door, a small metal box was on the wall beside the door. Lan hadn't noticed it before, but Tyrell lifted the lid of the box and the group saw that there was a number pad there. Tyrell smiled and reached out.

1…6…7…7…4…2…4…

1…1 Leader of Dark Aero

6…6 Six members of Dark Aero

7…7 Crystals

7…7 Heroes

4…4 Countries of the world

2…2 Traitors

4…4 Years the Dark Aero Company existed

The door slowly slid open, revealing a hallway of black tile and black brick. All the other halls of the complex where made of white, but this one was black as night.

Slowly the group moved forward into the hall. The hall was long, a large metal door with the Dark Aero symbol on it sat at the end of the hall. Seven lights surrounded the door, each one the color of each crystal.

The group walked toward the door, but Lan then moved in front of them and stopped.

"What is it?" Maylu asked.

"…Behind this door is Sir Kane, Abbadon, and Ambika. They have Dr. Hikari. All three members of Dark Aero are ready to fight to the death to defend the laser, and destroy the planet. Once we go through this door…there's no going back."

Tyrell stepped forward. "Don't worry. Demonman and I will cut them all down if we have too, right Demonman?"

Maylu smiled. "Roll and I aren't good at fighting…but we can heal, so we'll do what we can."

Zack looked at his PET. "Crain is good at using swords, and he's really fast. I think we can handle ourselves."

Chaud snickered. "There's never been an opponent would could outrun Protoman and I."

Lucia and Mei giggled. "Come on Lan, you know Suki and I are good at fighting from afar."

"Yeah…And Desira and I can do a little bit of fighting."

Lan smiled then turned to the door behind him.

"Then let's go…"

Slowly the doors slid apart and the group walked inside. They stood on a balcony looked over a busy factory floor. A catwalk connected the balcony they stood on to another balcony on the other side of the room.

Standing on the catwalk, directly in the center, was Abbadon. He had a dark grin on his face as he saw the group enter the room. Behind him stood two guards with their guns drawn, and farther behind him was Reaino, the announcer from the tournament.

Abbadon was wearing his black suit, but Reaino had changed clothes. He wore a white suit that as it went down his body slowly changed to red, yellow, green, blue, purple, and black by the time his pants reached his shoes. He looked like a standing rainbow, only the colors were dim and faded into one another.

"So…You've made it…Welcome to the Factory. This area of our building contains all the equipment we use to generate our own power. Thanks to making our own power we don't need to work with the local energy companies. And this allows us to use whatever energy we want…"

Lan scowled and stepped out onto the catwalk.

"And what energy is that?"

Abbadon smiled. "Nuclear…"

Maylu gasped. "What! Nuclear! Wait…that means…"

Abbadon burst into laughter. "Yes, quite smart aren't you. As you can see we are standing on a catwalk over the nuclear reactor. At the opposite end of this catwalk is the door to an elevator that leads to the roof of the factory. From the roof you can make your way across a bridge to reach to top of the Central Tower. But what you should worry about Lan, is the reactor."

"And why should I worry about that?"

"Simple…Reaino here has a remote that he can use to raise the heat levels in the reactor. If he raises it high enough we, and this entire building, will be disintegrated by the power of a nuclear blast, but the Central Tower will remain untouched."

Lan smiled. "You wouldn't blow yourselves up to kill me."

"No…try me." Abbadon said stepping forward.

Lan cursed and turned to his friends. "Stay on this side of the catwalk! If Reaino tries anything run!"

"NO!" Maylu yelled, trying to run out on the catwalk. Chaud and Zack grabbed her and pulled her back.

Abbadon laughed and motioned to a guard. The guard bowed and removed a sword from his side, handing it to Abbadon. Abbadon then handed the sword to Lan. Lan took it and smiled.

The sword was real, made of iron and steel, and quite heavy.

"So it's a sword fight, eh?"

"Indeed." Abbadon said with a smile. He reached to his side and removed his own sword. It was made of some metal, Lan couldn't tell what, and painted white.

"Let us begin." Abbadon said with a bow.

Suddenly Abbadon surged forward; Lan lashed out with his sword and blocked the blow. But Lan had never used a sword before, and stumbled toward the railing. Abbadon spun back around and sliced at Lan, who quickly ducked and lashed out with his foot.

Abbadon stumbled and cried out as he brought the sword down with enough force to cut through the railing. He missed, cutting said railing.

Lan flipped the sword in his hands and lashed out with it toward Abbadon's chest. Abbadon grinned and ducked, missing the blow, and raised back up at Lan's side. He lashed out with his fist, and hit Lan on the side of the head.

Lan cried out and fell to the floor. Maylu screamed, breaking through the grip on her by the men, and ran forward to Lan. She fell to her knees and looked at Lan.

Lan was fine, not hurt at all…but he had a plan.

Lan acted like he was hurt.

"Ah…..Maylu…."

Lan winked at Maylu, who gasped.

Maylu saw the look in Lan's eyes. She understood what he was meaning and fell down onto his body while faking to cry.

Abbadon smiled. He moved toward Reaino.

"Alright…they won't stand a chance against us now…lets…AH!"

As Abbadon was talking Maylu had taken the sword from Lan's hand and moved forward, behind Abbadon. Once she had reached right at his back she pushed with full force, the sword into his chest.

The sword had pushed through Abbadon's back and burst out of his chest. Blood was spurting out of the wound, his eyes and mouth wide.

"AH! N-NO! H-HOW!"

Reaino fell back.

"S-Stop! D-Don't hurt me!" He screamed.

Maylu let go of the blade, leaving it in Abbadon's body. Lan stood and the other members of the team ran over to him.

Abbadon fell to his knees. His face contorted in pain and shock.

"I matters not…if….I-I….die….Kane….Iblis will inherit...….Crystals….."

With those last words Abbadon fell to the catwalk floor, dead.

The group moved forward, stopped at his body and bowed, then ran across to the other end of the room.

One last door, one more bridge, and one more Dark Star agent left, then the boss….the Master of Shadow Stars…


	27. Finale Pt2: Smoking Gun

Lan and the team ran out onto the roof of the factory. Time had passed since the group had first arrived at the Dark Aero complex, but many hours separated the destruction of the world from now. Still, the sun had begun to move in the sky, it wasn't sunset…yet…

The factory roof was a large square piece of metal and concrete, at the north end of the roof was a long metal bridge that was extended from the Central Tower. The bridge was wide enough to drive a car across, and its railings were lit with yellow and red lights.

The bridge connected to the Central Tower by a balcony that was small and contained one door. A door much like the one the group had passed through in the factory itself.

The group was moving forward, toward the bridge, when they heard a sudden blast of sound. Looking up at the tower Zack stepped forward.

"A helicopter!" he yelled.

"Damn! Kane's trying to escape!" Tyrell cursed. "We have to hurry!"

The group ran forward, onto the bridge, and had just made it half the way across, when they heard a laugh from the Central Tower.

"Ambika!" Mei yelled. "What are you doing!?"

Ambika smiled. "You fools! What are you doing, joining them!"

Tyrell stepped forward. "You can't really approve of what Kane is doing, can you!?"

Ambika pushed away a strand of hair and smiled. "It doesn't really matter if I like it or not. People have done things to this planet, bad things. Pollution, tearing down forests, drying up springs! Kane is right to do this! When the laser is fired, people will learn the error of their ways!"

Chaud sighed. "How can she be this stupid? Kane isn't going to let her get in that helicopter! He's not going to let anyone live! When he fires that laser it will look like a terrorist attack, but there will be no evidence because this place will be nothing but a crater!"

Ambika turned to the door of the tower and pressed a button, opening the door.

"If you think you can stop us, then come and get us!" she yelled as she ran inside.

As the girl ran into the building a group of guard ran out, firing at the children on the bridge.

Everyone ducked down, cursing, and trying to run back to the factory.

"We can't get through with them shooting!" Lan yelled.

"YA THINK!" Chaud yelled, as a bullet bounced by.

* * *

Dr. Hikari stood in the main office of the Central Tower. He had made a circle of the entire building, being brought here by Dark Aero agents, then taken to the Factory, and led back to the Tower. It was getting annoying, just why did they need him?

Kane was standing at a bookcase, his back turned, taking books and putting them into a black case. He was getting ready for his escape. As he moved the items he was humming "Femme Fatale", a song that Dr. Hikari had heard on a game that Lan played once.

The song was an opera, but it was catchy, and soon Dr. Hikari could hear all the notes of the song in his head. It was tempting to hum it along with Kane, but Dr. Hikari shook his head to clear the song away. He needed to get out of this place and find Lan!

"So…" Dr. Hikari said, himself standing but feet away from Kane. "What exactly do you need me for if you've got the Crystals and the laser?"

Kane chuckled as he placed another file into the case.

"Simple doctor. You are one of the greatest minds of our age. If I am to make my escape, and hope to not be destroyed by the Netopian police, than what better hostage to have than the great Dr. Hikari."

Dr. Hikari smiled. "And what makes you think that they won't shoot you down?"

"Good question…one that will not need an answer. Ambika and Abbadon will take care of Lan and those traitors…"

Suddenly the door to the office burst open, two guards running inside with Reaino behind them.

"Reaino! There you are!"Kane said, seeing the man in the suit.

"Master Ka-" Reaino started, but was cut off by one of the guards.

"Master Kane, Abbadon…he's…"

Sir Kane's face grew dark. "What happened to Abbadon?" He asked, closing his case and placing it on the desk, the gun on top of it.

"…Sir…I'm afraid…he was…killed in a fight…"

Sir Kane sat slowly into his chair, his hand on his brow.

"No….H-How? He was my best agent…"

Dr. Hikari smiled, now was his chance. He lurched forward, grabbed the gun, and fired two rounds at the guards, killing them instantly. Reaino yelled and dropped to the floor.

Dr. Hikari pointed the gun toward Kane.

"Now…I think you should listen to me now Sir Kane."

Kane looked at Dr. Hikari with a dark glare. "Can you really make yourself pull the trigger? I don't think you can! If you wanted to kill me I would already be dead!" Kane yelled standing from his chair.

Dr. Hikari smiled. "Watch me."

Dr. Hikari squeezed his finger on the trigger….

BANG!


	28. Finale Pt3: Eye of the Storm

Sir Kane slowly walked across the white halls of the Dark Aero building. The Central Tower had a large helicopter pad at the top; the copter was primed and ready to fly. But Kane was moving slower than usual, and his limp was worse.

Abbadon was dead. Tyrell, Lucia, and Mei had betrayed him. Ambika and the last of the guards, about twenty in total, along with himself where all that remained of Dark Aero, if Ambika couldn't stop Lan and Megaman then it would be over.

Or would it?

* * *

Dr. Hikari was standing in the Main Office of the Central Tower, his hands shaking. He had aimed the gun at Kane, but when he was struck from behind by Reaino the gun had misfired. Kane had grabbed his briefcase and cane and fled. Reaino had proceeded to struggle for the gun with the doctor.

Dr. Hikari had kicked, hitting Reaino in the stomach, and knocking him down. When Reaino hit the floor he dived toward one of the dead guards and took their gun. He fired the gun toward the doctor, who was hit by it, and fired back.

Reaino was hit in the leg, the doctor in the arm. Reaino jumped up and started a fist fight with the doctor; the fight pushed them toward the window.

Dr. Hikari kicked Reaino in the shin, making him stumble, and without waiting fired three shots at Reaino. The man stumbled backward, one shot had hit his chest, the other two bullets had hit the window, cracking it.

Reaino lost his balance and fell into the window, which was already breaking, and fell, with the glass, out the window and down the tower. He fell for only a short time before he died, but continued his journey downward…until the horrific…

Splat…

Dr. Yuchihiro Hikari had survived the battle and came out with no more than a bleeding arm. But…the image of the battle would haunt him forever.

But still, he had no time to waste. Kane was making his way to the copter, trying to escape. The Crystals were still in place, the laser was armed! He had to help Lan and Megaman reach the Mother Computer that controlled the entire laser and Crystal circuit. Since the laser was operated by the Net, and the system that held the Crystals to the laser was connected to it, all of it could be shut down through the Mother Computer right there in the Main Office of the Tower.

Dr. Hikari ran out of the room, through the door and into the elevator. The elevator slowly moved down, and as it moved the sound of gunfire filled the air. People were shooting, but at who?

The doors opened and Dr. Hikari saw that Lan and the team were standing on the roof of the factory. He could see that they were trying to dodge the bullets being fired their way by the guards on his side of the bridge.

Dr. Hikari knew what he had to do! He had to help the team! And the only way to help was to get rid of the guards!

The doctor looked around; none of the guards had seen him yet. He moved through the shadows of the building toward a small control panel that he had seen against the wall. The panel had two red buttons and a series of small number keys.

Dr. Hikari sighed, and with full force, kicked his foot at the panel.

Suddenly, since he had hit it spot on, the lights on the bridge started to flicker. The bridge was beginning to retract from its long bridge like structure, and change into a folded up area against the side of the building.

Once the bridge folded up Lan and the team could never get across in time.

Dr. Hikari cursed, the guards had seen him, and he fired the few rounds he had left at the guards. A few of them hit, only three shots in all, killing each guard. The other guards stepped back, unaware that the doctor had a gun.

Once they saw the look in Dr. Hikari's eyes they ran, back inside the building, and far away from the fight.

Lan and the others had seen the bridge moving and dived onto it. As long as they kept running forward they would reach the end of the bridge before it fell away.

Lan ran at the head of the group, Chaud and Maylu close behind. Tyrell had picked up Mei and ran behind, Lucia and Zack at his side. The bridge wasn't long; half the length of a football field, but the group had to run quickly to reach the end.

Just as the group had reached the end, Lan, Maylu, Zack, Tyrell, Mei, and Chaud all at the safety of the tower, they heard a scream. Lucia had stumbled, fallen, and now wasn't going to reach the end of the bridge in time.

Dr. Hikari yelled. "NO! LAN! SOMEONE!"

Chaud and Lan burst forward without thinking. Lan reached the end of the bridge and motioned with his arms. The bridge would soon be tucked away underneath Lan's feet, but he still stood on it.

"JUMP! LUCIA! JUMP!"

Lucia jumped, screaming as she thought that she wouldn't make it. She fell perfectly into Lan's arms. But Lan had stayed on the bridge too long! The bridge was about to give way. He and Lucia both fell, the footing was gone.

Just as Lan and Lucia where about to fall to their deaths there was a shout as someone grabbed Lan's arm. They had just caught him by his wrist.

"HOLD ON YOU IDIOT! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING RUNNING OUT ON THE BRIDGE LIKE THAT! SHE WOULD HAVE MADE IT! NOW QUIT SQUIRMING!" Yelled a voice, Chaud.

Chaud pulled Lan up, slowly, Tyrell and Maylu helping. Lucia had clung to Lan like a cat to a curtain. Slowly, once they reached the safety of the platform, she let go.

"Thank you Lan." She said in a tired voice, a weak smile on her face.

"It was nothing." He said grinning.

Dr. Hikari cleared his throat. "Come, if we don't hurry Kane will get away!"

"What about the laser?" Chaud asked.

"The star won't be in alignment, but Kane ordered for it to fire already!"

"WHAT!?" screamed everyone in unison.

"When the laser hits the star it won't fall and destroy half the planet, it will hurtle out of control and most probably destroy MORE!"

Chaud cursed. "Then we have to hurry. But not for Kane, if he leaves he will eventually be found! We have to find the laser! It must be controlled by a computer somewhere!"

"The Mother Computer in Kane's office. It's the only computer that's connected to the machine!"

"Then let's go!" Lan said.

With that the team set off. Just as they ran inside the building they could make out the sound of a helicopter slowly starting its propellers. They had seen it before, landing on the tower to pick up Kane, and soon it would leave…and Kane would win.

The final pieces were in place.

The Millennium Star was still a treat, now more than ever.

More obstacles than just that laser were ahead of them now.

For a girl, her navi, and one …other…await them…

From within the Mother Computer a navi clad in a black cape, which surrounded his whole body, smiled and laughed darkly. Lightning, red in color, flashed far behind him. The programs that controlled the systems draining the power from the crystals sat behind him. Along with a large machine that controlled the laser.

The final battle had begun.


	29. Finale Pt4: Sister, Sister

The group took the elevator back up to the sixty-sixth floor of the tower. Kane's office, the head of the entire Dark Aero world was here. The computer at his desk contained all of the information needed to set a time and intensity of the laser fire. Soon the laser would fire, hours before schedule, all because Kane was afraid that Lan would stop it.

As Kane had fled from the room Dr. Hikari had heard him yell to a guard to prep the laser for fire. He wanted to make sure that the world would learn its lesson, for the star to fall, and for Lan to lose. But all that had been for naught, because Lan was in the office, mere feet away from the computer.

The group waited as the doors slowly opened a smile of pure joy on their faces. They had done it! They had beaten Dark Aero!

Then as the doors opened Dr. Hikari yelled and threw himself down on Maylu and Lan, knocking them to the floor. Ambika was standing in the office, a gun in her hand; she had fired at the doctor.

Chaud and Zack burst into action; being Officials they had experience with gun wielding idiots. They both squeezed against the walls of the elevator, just outside the door.

"Ambika! What are you doing!?" Cried Lucia, who had fell to the floor along with Tyrell and Mei.

"What am I doing!? What are YOU doing!? How can you join them!?"

"How can you work for a madman!?" Lucia cried.

"SHUT UP!" Ambika yelled, pointing the gun at Lucia.

Tyrell stood, shielding Lucia and Mei.

"Stop! You can't!"

"Get out of my way Tyrell. I will shoot you!"

Chaud and Zack cringed, Ambika was just crazy enough to do it.

Lan and Maylu still lay on the floor, Dr. Hikari had stood and was moving toward Lucia and Mei.

"Lucia. Mei. Get behind me, I've got an idea." He whispered. The girls followed his orders and hid behind him.

"Get out of my WAY!" Ambika screamed, her voice breaking, clearly under the anxiety of what was happening. All of Dark Aero was gone, bar her and Kane. Everyone had joined Lan, aside from Reaino and Abbadon who had been killed.

It was over. She was alone…just like she always had been.

"Ambika…just put the gun down." Tyrell said in a kind tone. He was slowly moving toward her.

Dr. Hikari was shifting his weight from one leg to the other, his hand slipping into his pocket where his gun was. The gun was empty, but Ambika didn't know that. He slowly moved the gun, with Ambika's attention on Tyrell, and tossed it over to Zack.

Zack already knew the plan.

Tyrell had moved forward only a few inches when Ambika shook the gun at him.

"S-Stop! I-I will shoot!"

Tyrell smiled. "Do it…I dare you…"

Ambika grinned. "This is for Abbadon."

Suddenly Zack, Dr. Hikari, and Chaud burst into action.

Zack ran forward, pointing the gun at Ambika. Ambika screamed and fired the gun at Tyrell, who was knocked to the ground by Dr. Hikari. Chaud ran forward and tackled Ambika. The two fought over the gun, Zack still pointing his empty gun at Ambika.

The struggle went on with Ambika clawing at Chaud's eyes with her long nails. Chaud and Ambika raised from the floor, both trying to keep moving toward the gun in her hand. Just as Chaud was about to grab the gun Ambika hit him with her knee in the gut. Chaud coughed and doubled over, this was Zack's chance. He dived forward, Ambika totally unaware of him, and knocked her to the floor.

As she hit the floor the gun spun away, toward where Lucia and Mei were.

Lucia looked down at the gun, a simple revolver. Slowly she bent down and picked up the gun.

Everyone was watching the two on the floor, unaware that Lucia had the gun.

Lucia moved forward, Zack pinned Ambika to the floor who was screaming at the top of her lungs.

"NO! LET ME GO!"

Ambika struggled, and finally rested on the floor. Zack grabbed her arms and slowly hauled her off the floor and pinned her against the wall.

Lucia walked over to them, Zack could see the tears in Lucia's eyes. He slowly moved out of her way as she moved over to Ambika.

Lan laughed. "You've lost! Kane may get away, but now that we're here in his office we can shut down the laser!"

Ambika burst into a wail of laughter.

"You idiot! You really think you can stop us!? It's no use! If you are going to shut down the laser you'd better do it quick!"

"Why?" Zack asked in a sigh.

"Because. Kane had the firing time moved. The laser will be firing soon, and even if you do try and stop us it's no use! There's no way you can beat Mallory, who's inside the Central Tower Network, and beat Iblis in time to stop the laser fire!"

Lan and Chaud both cursed at the same time. "Damn! I forgot about Iblis!"

"When Abbadon went to fight you all he gave his PET to Kane. Now that Kane is making his escape you'll never stop him!"

"But what will firing the laser early accomplish?" asked Maylu.

"…If it's fired right..It could send the star into a spinning crash course with the planet. If it hits the planet not only will it destroy most of it, but it very well may shut down the Net, maybe even ALL functions of the planet!" Dr. Hikari said, in anger.

Lan cursed, and without another second wasted, skated over to the computer at the desk and pulled out his PET.

"Megaman! We have to stop them!"

Megaman smiled. "Ready when you are Lan!"

Lan removed the cord from his PET and plugged it into the computer.

Chaud and Zack ran over to the elevator, Dr. Hikari and Maylu close behind.

"Chaud and I will go after Kane!" Zack said.

"And we're going to try and see if we can't find a way to slow down the charge of the laser!" said Maylu.

Tyrell and Mei moved over to Lucia and Ambika.

"Come on…let's go…" Tyrell said.

"…Ambika…why…how could you…you're my sister! How could you do this!?" Lucia asked.

Ambika grinned. "Simple. I want to be on the winning team, and I am. And who cares about family anyway, when you can have all the power in the world! You're just weak Lucia! You always have been!"

Lucia shook her head. "No…You're weak… You're weak enough to fall for Kane's lies. You're through Ambika. Once the police get you, you'll never see the light of day again."

Ambika simply shrugged.

"Ambika…You're my sister…I've always loved you, and looked up to you…how could you do something like this?"

Ambika spit at Lucia. "You're sister died many years ago!"

And so it began. Mallory and Iblis were waiting, the Crystals were losing power. The laser was almost charged, and far above the planet the star was moving.

It was almost time, mere hours until the laser would fire.

The end had begun.


	30. Finale Pt5: Dark Hole

Dr. Hikari and Maylu burst out of the tower and into the courtyard. The laser sat before them, charging slowly. Seven tubes of energy linked to the machine went off in different directions.

Dr. Hikari sighed and turned to Maylu. "We need to start with these tubes. Since they are connected to the Crystals we need to shut them down. Once the laser stops charging we can stop Kane!"

"Right, we just need to find how to stop the charge." Maylu said.

The duo ran off into a small building. Inside they saw a tube running along the floor. It ran straight, and then turned into another room. Following the tube they found themselves in a small room. Against three walls where large computers. The tubes where attached to the computers, clearly this was where the system was set to absorb from one of the Crystals.

"This must be the computer that works for one of the Crystals." Maylu said.

"Yes…now we just need to shut it down."

Dr. Hikari ran forward and started to type on the computer. Hundreds of letters and numbers clicked across the screens. Maylu just watched the doctor type, and the numbers fly. Suddenly the doctor cursed as a red box appeared on all three computer screens.

"What's wrong?" Maylu asked.

"Damn! The computer needs a password to shut down the process."

Maylu sighed. "Just do this!"

Maylu walked forward and kicked the computer. The computer screen flickered and a loud dull tone filled the room. She then kicked it again and the screen went black.

Dr. Hikari smiled. "Well…I guess that'll work."

* * *

Megaman was standing in a strange part of the Net. All around him the area was filled with different lights that floated all around. And Megaman could see small figures, all huddled in a circle, dancing and singing. The figures were moving around a elevator.

The elevator was a single tile with no walls; once it was touched it would slowly ascend to the second section of the area. The area above Megaman had white tiles, while the one he stood on now had black. The only color in the area was the small lights that floated around. There were lights in all sorts of colors, red, blue, green, yellow, purple, black, and white.

Dashing forward Megaman made his way to the elevator. As he reached the elevator he recognized the creatures standing around it. Storas, the strange star-like creatures that Megaman and Roll had met at Star Hill, where all around him. They where signing a catchy tune that sounded happy, but almost dirge like.

It was like they were singing about the great and happy times of a dead man. A song about life, life that had long been lost. A song of shadows.

The elevator slowly moved Megaman upward, this was when he saw that there was yet another floor above him, and in its center was a large sphere. The sphere was made of pure energy, shining a rainbow of colors, and had large tubes connected to it. The tubes stretched all around, connecting to the walls and ceiling of the room, as well as the floor.

Megaman could feel the energy pulse from the sphere like a heartbeat. Everything was silent, like a ghost town. Nothing moved, and nothing spoke. Just a gentle hum from the Storas, and the chorus of the energy flowing around him, was all that was heard.

But the silence didn't last long. Suddenly there was a loud explosion and a spine tingling tear. The tearing sound almost sounded like metal being ripped apart by more metal. Megaman looked up and saw a chunk of metal falling toward him; quickly he dived out of the way.

The metal fell toward where he had been and destroyed the ground, hurtling toward the first floor and crashing into it. The metal had come from above, on the third floor. A section of the floor had been ripped up and blasted toward Megaman.

But by what?

Clearly someone was there.

Megaman wasn't alone.

A sudden burst of laughter filled the area. The laugh came from two navis, one male and one female. The laughter bounced off the walls and seemed to fill all of the Net.

Megaman, who had dived to the floor, pulled himself up and looked around.

"Who's there!?"

"Hmhmhm…Poor Megaman…It's a shame really…" said a male voice, the voice was dark and deep.

"Iblis! Come out! Stop being a coward and show yourself!"

Iblis burst into laughter again, suddenly a shimmer of light caught Megaman's attention. Far above on the third floor two figures began to shimmer into place. The actually figures couldn't be seen, but where they stood seemed to wave to and fro until they appeared.

"Hello again Megaman." Iblis said, he was wearing his usual black cape, only he now had removed his helmet revealing his black hair. His eyes seemed to glow with glee as he saw Megaman. Mallory, Ambika's navi, stood next to him in a black strapless-dress.

"Iblis! Come over here and fight me!" Megaman yelled.

Iblis laughed, throwing his head back. "Do you really think you can stop me?! Mallory!"

Mallory turned to Iblis. "Yes sir?"

"It's time to play. But play nice, I want to have a little fun with him myself."

Mallory nodded and jumped from the third floor to the second, her whip in her hand.

"Time to die Megaman." She said with a sneer.

"Yes…it is…and I'll make sure that Ambika finds a nice place to bury you!"

Mallory lashed out at Megaman, who quickly spun away from the attack.

"LAN!" he yelled.

Lan smiled and pulled a chip from his case.

"Long sword, battle chip IN!"

Megaman's arm burst into data and slowly extended into a long sword. He smiled and ran toward Mallory. Mallory pulled back on her whip and lashed out again, wrapping it around the sword. Megaman cursed as his opponent jerked the whip back, tightening the grip on the sword, and pulling Megaman forward.

Megaman kicked Mallory once he was pulled into range. Mallory released her grip on the whip and stepped back, Megaman took his chance.

He dashed forward and thrust his blade toward her. Mallory tried to move, but couldn't move in time. The blade scrapped across her cheek, sending data streaming out. She screamed as she felt the pain of the attack, then suddenly shrieked in shock.

Megaman had plowed right by her, and spun around to see her lose her balance and fall toward the first floor. Quickly, as she fell, she lashed out with her whip. The whip coiled around Megaman's leg, who cursed as he was pulled down.

Mallory was falling toward the first floor, and was now dragging Megaman with her. Megaman scrambled trying to find a place to grab hold of something. As he moved farther across the walkway, closer to the fall, he could tell that he was short on time.

He finally reached the end, starting the fall. As he started to fall down from the second floor he stabbed his blade down onto the walkway. The sword pierced through the floor, stopping both navis fall. Megaman cried out in pain as Mallory's weight pulled the whip harder, tightening around his leg and cutting into him.

"M-Megaman!" Lan yelled.

"Lan…..AH! L-LAN! HELP!"

Mallory was struggling underneath him, pulling hard on the whip.

Iblis was watching with a dark smile.

"DO IT! KILL HIM! RIP HIM APART!" Iblis yelled.

Mallory yanked harder on the whip, causing more pain to surge through Megaman. If this didn't stop soon Megaman would lose his leg!

"It is time to end this!" Iblis yelled.

He removed his arms from his cape, and drew stars in the air. Two balls of dark energy covered his hands. The darkness spiraled around him. Suddenly he pushed his hands out, flinging the balls of darkness down toward the floor of the first floor.

As they hit the floor they exploded, two small dark hurricanes appeared, sucking air in trying to absorb the navis. Mallory screamed.

"Iblis! What are you doing!?"

"Sorry Mallory! But it seems your under a bit of friendly fire!" said Iblis as he burst into laughter. The two dark holes grew and grew, finally dark tentacles stretched out and licked at Mallory's heals.

"NO! NO! STOP! NOOOO!" Mallory screamed as two dark tentacles wrapped around her body and pulled her down. As she was pulled down she released the whip, causing Megaman to finally be released.

Quickly he adjusted his weight and pulled himself up with his blade. Once on the second floor he looked down, watching Mallory being absorbed into the dark holes.

Iblis smiled and walked away, toward the large sphere.

Megaman sighed, he could see and elevator. He dashed toward it and readied himself for the fight. The final battle was at hand.


	31. Final Battle Pt1: Spark of Insanity

Iblis stood in front of the large sphere, his back turned from Megaman. He watched the energy of the sphere move, coursing through the tubes that connected to it like veins in a heart. This truly was the fact, this sphere was the heart of the entire area.

Star Hill, the Net Area where it all had started…

The Shadow of the Stars Tournament, where it had taken place…

The world, the victim.

It was time to end the fight! Iblis was alone, Megaman was ready! It was time to die! Only one would be left standing!

Megaman walked forward, standing mere feet away from Iblis. Iblis remained looking at the sphere, a slight breeze blew across the area and Megaman could feel it brush against his skin. Iblis's cape billowed in the wind, rippling like a dark sea.

"…Did you know that in the past cities were built of stone and mud…It's hard to believe really…that a civilization that once lived in dirt and filth, could now construct something like us…In fact…we are nothing more than toys really. Humans…the soul rulers of the world…they're at the top of the food chain you know…but It makes me wonder," Iblis paused to take a breath, "If humans themselves are the dominate life form…than what does that make us, those who control their very lives. Without us, navis and programs, humans would be nothing! We control their homes! We control their safety! We rule them!"

Iblis spun around; his eyes alight with flames of a deep rage.

"It is not humans who are at the top of the food chain! No…No…it is viruses! Is that not what we are!? VIRUSES!"

Iblis yelled, causing Megaman to step back. The navi was slowly moving toward him, his hands slowly stretching into two long blades. The blades were curved but then jutted into two sharp points. Iblis then moved his bladed hands quickly in a circle around his cape, cutting it away.

Iblis wore a simple grey, red, and black body suit. But he had large armored shoulder blades that jutted out to the side, both a bright gold. Iblis looked almost like some sort of demon as he marched toward Megaman, his eyes filled with rage.

"Our battle ends now my friend, I will not lose!" Iblis yelled, jerking his bladed hands into the air, causing a surge of wind to blast into the floor behind Megaman.

Megaman yelled as he watched the floor shatter like glass as the wind barreled into it.

Lan cringed.

"Dual Sword, battle chip IN!"

Megaman's arms burst into data and reshaped as two large swords. And just in time too.

Iblis brought his blades down, swinging them like a madman, toward Megaman's head. Megaman blocked the blows, and then began to push him backward. Iblis growled at Megaman as he was moved backward.

The duo broke their contact and Megaman dived out of the way as Iblis yet again thrust his blades at him. But this time it wasn't the swords that Megaman was dodging, it was the two bolts of energy that shot out of the blades.

Suddenly Megaman could feel that the air had become strangely still. Spinning around, Megaman saw that Iblis was standing in a strange ring of energy. The energy grew and grew, spinning around Iblis. Then the circle blasted upward, changing into a large cyclone. It was the power of the Control System!

Iblis pushed out with his hands and the cyclone moved toward Megaman. Megaman cursed and glanced around for a place to run to. The floor behind him was gone, and he was standing on the third floor. But he didn't have time to think, Megaman dived off the edge of the floor and fell toward the second floor.

"You can't win Megaman! I rule this entire world! YOU ARE IN MY WORLD NOW!" Iblis bellowed from the third floor.

The cyclone reached the edge of the third floor and burst away in a blast of data and wind. Megaman continued to fall, but finally found what he needed. He stretched his arms out and caught hold of the edge of the second floor and pulled himself up onto it.

Suddenly there was a loud roaring noise. Megaman turned in the direction of the noise and saw the dark hole, the same one that had brought an end to Mallory, was expanding. Cursing Megaman ran back toward the elevator to the third floor again.

"Lan! If Iblis can use the Control System to fight than why can't we!?"

Lan smiled. "Alright! It's up to you! If you think you can do it than let's go!"

Megaman smiled he stopped moving and closed his eyes. Listening hard he could hear the slight breeze from the wind, but that wasn't what he was searching for. Far in the distance Megaman had noticed red lightning flashing around the area, that lighting was what he wanted.

Breathing deeply, and relaxing himself, Megaman could feel all the elements around him moving. The earth trembled. The heat, from the energy of the sphere, grew. Megaman let his mind drift away, it was almost like he was flying, flying toward the lightning.

Suddenly the lightning surged through the air and blasted into his body. Megaman cried out, opening his eyes, the pain was real! Horrible pain, and sickening sizzling sounds, filled Megaman. He let the power of the electricity course through him.

Megaman's body suit changed to a red color with black streaks. His helmet grew to sharp blades on it. Then he felt his arms begin to change, his hands burst away and two small spikes of metal replaced them.

"Whoa…" Lan said.

Megaman could feel a powerful surge of energy inside him, and quickly tested out his new powers. The two spikes he had for hands were actually conductors. He charged them, just like his buster, and they began to charge two spheres of multicolored energy.

Quickly Megaman jumped on the elevator, and once it reached the third floor, released the power at Iblis.

Iblis was taken off guard, and the energy that Megaman had burst into him in two powerful lightning bolts. The bolts started as a yellow color and morphed through all the colors of the rainbow as they reached their target.

Iblis screamed in pain as the two bolts hit him in his chest, two small black charred areas left behind. Megaman smiled and charged up his power again.

Iblis laughed, a dark and menacing laugh, and suddenly seemed to shatter into two forms of him that blew away with the wind.

"W-What the…"

Suddenly Iblis was behind Megaman, and he quickly kicked Megaman to the floor. Megaman hit the floor, and turned over onto his back, he then blasted Iblis with another surge of power. Iblis screamed and stepped backward, moving toward the large sphere of energy.

Megaman then decided to change up his attacks. He charged up the energy, but blasted the electricity into the air. Two bolts of pure energy soared high above them, sailed forward, and burst down toward Iblis.

Iblis cursed and rolled to the left, just barely missing the two bolts. But the bolts struck the floor and sent waves of electricity across it, shocking the dark navi.

"That….is…quite…enough…" Iblis said.

He raised his hands into the air, which burst away and returned as his normal hands. The large sphere of energy behind him sent out a spray of, what looked like, spores of red energy that sailed toward Iblis. The spores were absorbed into him and he laughed as his body began to glow a deep red.

Then he pushed his hands forward, sending two balls of fire toward Megaman.

Megaman dived to the floor, just barely missing the fire, but then jumped up and shot more bolts of energy at Iblis. Iblis sent more fire back, and the two navis stood there on the third floor sending waves of energy back and forth.

The battle had reached a stalemate.

Megaman had the power of lightning.

Iblis had the power of fire.

Both had an undying will to stop the other.

One of them would die, and Megaman was certain it wouldn't be him.


	32. Final Battle Pt2: Bow and Aero

Fire blasted by Megaman as he ducked from the blow. The heat of the fire burned brightly, and Megaman could feel how much power had been put into it. Iblis was standing across from him, firing balls of pure fire.

But Megaman had stood fast, with his electricity he had countered Iblis's fire well, and the two navis stood panting. The fight had drawn on now for, what seemed like hours, but was mere minutes. Megaman could feel himself growing tired, losing the last of his will to fight. But still he fought onward.

Iblis had sent a volley of ten balls at Megaman, who dodged each one with ease. Megaman then sent two bolts of pure electric energy back at Iblis, who ducked from them as they blasted into the large sphere of energy behind him.

Iblis then stood and sighed.

"Enough…it seems we are evenly matched, you and I. This battle is growing tiresome; let's change things up a bit…"

Iblis took a deep breath and as he exhaled all the energy in his body flowed out. He had given up his power of fire. Megaman did the same, and let go of his power of electricity. Clearly the true fight had yet to begin.

Iblis smiled and began to hum a strange tune.

"So Megaman…why exactly do you fight against me?" Iblis asked, turning away from Megaman.

Megaman looked confused. "You know why! You're crazy! You're trying to destroy people, innocent people! I can't let you do that!"

Iblis chuckled. "Oh…but Megaman, just think of it. These people who will die, they want to die. They are nothing, worthless; the only great people are those like you and me. We are perfect, don't you see. Humans, they have so many…flaws, but we programs, we can't make errors! It is beneath us! We are easily the most powerful, and perfect, beings in the world! But humans can't accept that, so they limit us to be their servants! Personally I never found it that enjoyable to be ordered around by a human."

Megaman sighed. "You speak like humans are some sort of plague on the world, yet you work with them."

Iblis laughed. "It matters not who I know, nor who I work with. All that matters is that this world will see how wrong it truly is. Kane is fighting to show humans what happens when they hurt the world. I fight to destroy, what is truly, the most disgusting race in the world!"

Lan laughed. "You're mad!"

Iblis laughed, the wind all around grew once again. Megaman could feel it gusting much harder than normal. Iblis slowly closed his eyes and began to relax; he was going to absorb the power of wind.

Megaman did the same, if they both took the power of wind than they would be safe. Megaman could feel his body rising. He felt like he had become some sort of bird, his body began to shimmer slightly.

His colors blasted away, morphing into white and gold. His back suddenly jutted out two large wings, angelic-like, and he rose slightly into the air. His hands morphed into sharp claws, his feet into powerful talons. He could fly! He could use the power of winds to fight Iblis.

But across from him, Iblis had grown wings too. His colors had changed to a black and purple mixture, and two bony black feathered wings stretched out of his back. He too had sharp pointed claws and talons, the two of them together looked very menacing.

Iblis made the first move, sailing through the air right at Megaman. Megaman took full power over his wings, and quickly dived to the right. But he hadn't moved fast enough, and felt a sudden pain on his side as Iblis soared by.

Iblis stopped his flight and turned to Megaman, who had also stopped flight. Megaman had a small gash on his side, but nothing too severe. Megaman sighed and readied himself for the next attack.

If someone was to look from below it would look like a giant dove and raven fighting. As the two navis wings flapped wind whipped around them. The fight had just begun the fight for the world.

* * *

Chaud and Zack burst up a flight of stairs, and out onto the roof of the Dark Aero tower. Before them sat a helicopter, black as night, with the letters DA on the side in red writing. A man sat in the copter, the pilot, and a man with a limp was moving toward the copter.

"Stop!" Chaud yelled.

The man stopped moving and slowly turned, Kane. He had a dark grin on his face as he saw the two boys.

"So I see that Ambika and Reaino have failed to halt your progress…this is most unfortunate."

Zack stepped toward Kane. "You're coming with us!" he said in a confident tone.

Kane smiled. "Oh, I am? Just what makes you think you can stop me?"

Chaud frowned slightly and glanced at Zack. He and Zack alone couldn't take out Kane, there was no way, not without any sort of back up or weapons. How could two kids, even if they were Officials, stop a man from getting into a helicopter!?

Zack suddenly ran forward, straight at Kane. Kane smiled and slid to the right, causing the child to miss his target. Kane then took his cane and slammed in into Zack's back; Zack cried out and fell to the roof.

Chaud cursed.

"So…you really want to stop me, eh? Hmhmhm…this will be fun."

Kane stepped into the helicopter; Chaud cursed and ran toward him. Just as Chaud was getting near the copter it began to lift. Wind plowed into Chaud, causing him to fall backward. The copter slowly rose into the air, beginning its lift off.

"NO!" Chaud yelled, jumping to his feet.

The copter began to slowly move toward the edge of the roof, soon it would fly away. Chaud ran after it, and just as it had moved away from the roof, he jumped.

Chaud just made it, reaching out and grabbing the left landing skid and holding onto it. Chaud was now on the copter, he just needed to find out how to stop Kane. Right now was probably one of the most dangerous moments in his life, if the pilot tried to move the copter toward a building, he would fall off and die. Also since the rotor of a copter spins so fast it creates static electricity, enough to charge the whole copter and send Chaud flying off the copter with a huge shock.

Kane could see that Chaud was on the copter, just outside his door, and cursed.

"The damn kids mental! He's on the skid! Pilot, scrape him off!" The pilot nodded and made the copter rise, a building was just ahead.

The copter moved slowly, and Chaud could see what was about to happen. He slowly began to grab at the skid and move his way across, much like a child did on monkey bars. Chaud had just reached the edge of the door when the copter reached the building.

If he moved more to the right he would be chopped up by the tail rotor, and if he stayed where he was he would fall off when they reached the building. Quickly he acted.

Just as the copter reached the building Chaud threw himself toward the tail boom, mere feet from the rotor. He was far enough away from the rotor so as not to be killed, and just far enough away not to be harmed by the building.

The copter passed the building and Kane smiled.

"Good…the boys gone…it's a shame really, to die in such a way. Au revoir, Mr. Blaze."

Chaud was still there, far away from the safety of the Dark Aero building. He was on his own; he just needed to get to Kane at the front of the copter.

And so time ran short.

Maylu and Dr. Hikari still worked to shut down the Crystals, now only six remained.

Iblis and Megaman were fighting their battle.

Chaud and Kane were flying away.

Dark Aero's plans were coming to an end.

The firing time had moved, the shot would not hit the star correctly. But when the star would be struck, the damage would be even worse.

Mere minutes remained, for the laser had a timer. And it read: 14:59


	33. Final Battle Pt3: Shining in Twilight

Megaman soared through the air, dodging Iblis's blows one by one, moving higher. Iblis was close behind, clawing and tearing at Megaman ever inch of the way. Iblis was determined to kill Megaman, and Megaman was determined to win.

The battle had started with them fighting just above the third floor platform, but had now drifted. The fighters were now directly above the large sphere of energy that was the Mother Computers energy. Once that energy was gone all of the Dark Aero complex would go offline.

Megaman cried out as Iblis sailed past him, cutting his arm as he went by. Megaman had only been hit twice, but he had yet to harm Iblis. He needed a new strategy, a new weapon!

"Lan!" Megaman yelled.

Lan had watched the entire fight so far in almost complete silence, now it was his turn to fight. "Yes?"

"I need more power if I'm going to stop Iblis! Can you give me anything!?"

Lan sighed. "I'm sorry Megaman, since your using the Control System I don't really know what to do…"

Megaman cursed and flew to the left, missing a blow from Iblis.

Iblis stopped flying and turned to Megaman.

"Grr! Hold still!"

Then Megaman saw it, a way to beat Iblis!

Far in the distance Megaman saw a crackle of lightning, below him was a sphere of flame and energy! All around him was air, and under his feet was earth! Water! Water always was part of the air! Megaman had all the power he needed to stop Iblis; he just needed ALL the elements!

Megaman flew right at Iblis, spinning in a spiral as he went. Iblis cried out as Megaman drilled past him and cut his arm. Megaman continued his flight until he was safely over solid ground.

"Lan! I've got an idea! If I can absorb ALL the elements I might be strong enough to stop Iblis!"

Lan cried in shock. "ALL! Megaman, you don't even know if you CAN!"

"I have to try!"

Megaman landed on the ground and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, relaxing his body and mind. Iblis was staring at him with a confused glare, waiting to see what would happen.

Megaman breathed slowly, allowing his body to release the powers of air. Then he searched, searched his surroundings for the elements. The world was made of many elements, electricity from lightning, wind from air, water hidden in the molecules of the air, fire in the energy of the sphere, earth beneath his feet, metal that made up the tiles, light that was made by the energy of fire, all the power he needed was there, it was time to take it.

Megaman opened his mind and body to the elements and could feel their power all around him. His own body seemed to resonate with energy as he searched with his soul for the powers around him. He felt like he was asleep, but not quite, more like in a trance.

Lan and Iblis both watched on in amazement as they saw Megaman's body suddenly begin to glow. Small spirals of, what looked like spores, of different colors flowed into Megaman's body. A chain of them came from the sphere, another from the ground, one from the lightning far away, and two from the air.

Thousands of small dots of color rushed into Megaman's body, he felt like his body was on fire. He screamed in pain and opened his eyes; his entire body was engulfed in a strange white light. The spores of colors where being absorbed into his body, and he screamed in pain as they entered him.

Suddenly, just as quick as it had started, it stopped. All the spores stopped moving, and Lan and Iblis watched in amazement that Megaman was glowing!

White light radiated off him, shining brighter than any star. The light soon extended toward Iblis and engulfed him.

Lan's screen went blank, nothing but white light on it.

"Megaman?" Lan asked to the light.

No response.

"Megaman…."

Still no word from Megaman, nor from anything.

The last sound heard was a feminine voice screaming: "MEEEEGAAAMAAANNNN!"

* * *

Dr. Hikari and Maylu had just finished shutting down a third Crystal, and had just entered another Crystal computer room. Suddenly Maylu screamed as bolt of electricity shot across the computers.

"Whoa! Maylu, get back!" Dr. Hikari said, pushing Maylu back.

"What's going on?" Maylu asked.

"I don't know…"

Maylu pushed past Dr. Hikari and pulled out her PET. Taking the cord and jacking in, Dr. Hikari lunged forward.

"NO!"

Roll burst into the Net, the entire Net was in chaos.

"Whoa!" Roll cried, as she ducked to dodge a chunk of stone that sailed by her head.

All of the Dark Aero Network was connected together around the Mother Computer, and Roll could see a large sphere of energy far in the distance…and two small figures.

"MEEEEGAAAMAAANNNN!" Roll screamed.

One of the figures turned, but he didn't look like Megaman…

He wore a long white cape that fell down his back. He had on a white and gold bodysuit, white gloves, white boots with gold trim, and a white helmet with the same gold trim. On his helmet where four shards of, what looked like, crystal. Each one a different color, red, blue, green, and yellow.

The figure had brown eyes and brown hair, just like Megaman, but he looked more like some sort of angel.

The figure in white moved toward a figure in black and red, who Roll knew was Iblis…

"Megaman….wow…"

Iblis had lost his advantage.

The Control Systems full power had been realized, Megaman was ready.

Twilight fell over the land; the time was almost at hand.

The clock on the laser slowly ticked away the minutes…

12:45

12 Minutes

45 Seconds

44…43…42…41…40

Time…….

…..

Time was up….


	34. Final Battle Pt4: Radiance

Iblis held his hand up to cover his eyes as a bright white light filled his vision. Before him stood a figure in white and gold, slowly moving toward him with a sort of dark glare. The figure was Megaman…Megaman had found the true power of the Control System…Iblis was as good as dead.

"No….no……NO!" Iblis yelled, as he backed away.

"It's over Iblis! This ends now!"

Iblis held up his hand in defense. "M-Megaman…come on…..you're not gonna kill me! You won't, we both know that!"

Megaman laughed and moved closer to Iblis, who was now a few steps from the large sphere of energy. His body was glowing with white light, and he felt like a god. He had all the power he needed to vaporize Iblis, and he was enjoying it.

"You know Iblis…I think you're scared." Lan said from the real world.

"….Damn you……DAMN YOU ALL!" Iblis yelled, running at Megaman in rage.

Megaman simply raised his hand into the air, and as he raised it Iblis was gripped by an invisible hand and raised into the air.

"N-NO! PUT ME DOWN!"

"Iblis…you really are weak." Megaman said, smiling at him with a kind smile.

"Megaman……you…you….YOU!"

"You hurt my friends! You burned down my house! You made me go through Hell to get here!"

Megaman smiled and, pushing his hand down, slammed Iblis into the floor each time he yelled at him. Iblis cried out as he slammed into the floor, and Megaman raised him up and slammed him down two more times after he was done speaking.

"Iblis…you may have thought you could stop me. But now….." Megaman paused, pulling Iblis toward him.

"….this is MY world!" Megaman finished, fueling his new power with his hatred of Iblis.

With that Megaman threw Iblis forward, blasting him across the room and pushing him into the sphere of energy that powered the laser. When Iblis hit the sphere his body burst into flames, and he screamed in pain as the flames moved over his entire body, still being pushed into the sphere by Megaman.

"…burn in Hell, Iblis…"

With that Iblis was pushed into the center of the sphere, which suddenly grew in size. The sphere doubled, tripled, and then quadrupled in size. Heat and flame arced all around the large sphere that grew more and more.

"Megaman! Jack out, quick!" Lan cried, jacking Megaman out, just as the ball of energy engulfed the area where he stood.

Standing to the east was a pink navi. The navi had watched the entire event with a smile.

"…Megaman…you really are a hero…"

* * *

Dr. Hikari grabbed Maylu and pulled her back right after she jacked out Roll. All the computers all over the building where bursting into flame, bolts of energy crackling across them.

All the electric devices all over the building flickered as the power surged. Streetlamps, lights, computers, doors, elevators, everything was short-circuiting all because of a sudden increase of energy in the Mother Computers core.

"What going on!?" Maylu cried, as Dr. Hikari pulled her down the hall.

"Megaman and Lan did it!"

"What!? We won!?"

The duo ran out into the courtyard and watched in awe as the laser was covered in electricity. A timer on it read 10:20.

"10:20! We did it, with ten minutes to spare!" Maylu cried.

"YES! All thanks to Lan and Megaman!"

Suddenly there was a large explosion, and the two of them turned to see the elevator, moving up the Central Tower, explode. The elevator had been rising to the sixty-sixth floor…Lan was trapped.

"LAN!"

"Damn! We have to get up there!"

"Wait! Look!" Maylu said, pointing up at the roof.

A helicopter was landing on the roof…

And it didn't have the DA symbol on it…

* * *

"Netopia Security Officials base, this is Electopian Official Zackary Leo! I am currently atop the Dark Aero complex, and need back up! Another Official of Electopia, Chaud Blaze, has taken a helicopter flown by Dark Aero founder Sir Kane! I need someone to find that copter and force it down!"

Zack was standing on the roof of the Dark Aero building; he had been knocked out my Kane during a fight but had now woken up.

A suddenly explosion caught his attention as he saw a section of the factory suddenly burst into flames. The entire complex was going to explode! He needed to find the others and get out of there!

"This is the Netopian Security Officials Base, Shadow Division; we acknowledge your order and are now en-route to your position, as well as Mr. Blaze."

"Good….and please…hurry…"

* * *

The flight had only lasted two or three minutes, but it had felt like hours.

Chaud Blaze was holding tightly onto the helicopter. The copter had maneuvered through the city, and was moving toward a building that was even bigger than the Dark Aero complex. On the roof of the building was a helicopter pad, and a group of men in black suits.

The copter began to move down, and luckily from where Chaud was, he was thus far unharmed and unseen.

Once the copter had touched down on the roof the door opened and Sir Kane stepped out, his cane tapping against the roof tiles. Slowly he moved out and moved toward the group of men in black coats.

"Welcome back Sir Kane. Everything is ready for your trip."

Kane smiled. "Excellent. What is the progress of the laser firing?"

The man looked away, a look of fear on his face. "…Um…I regret to say that the laser…as well as Iblis…and all other members of Dark Aero have been….um…terminated. The laser has been destroyed sir…and the complex is falling as we speak."

Kane suddenly tightened his grip on his cane. His face grew dark, and slowly he turned to the man.

"…So you're telling me…that the plan failed!?"

The man's' voice broke as he spoke. "Y-Yes…"

Kane screamed in frustration and twisted the top of his cane, pulling on it as he did. A long sword was pulled out of the cane, and with one move he hacked the man's head off with one clean swipe. He then removed a white handkerchief from his pocket and whipped the blade clean before putting it back into the cane.

"…This is most unfortunate… Captain!"

The man who had flown the copter had gotten out and was standing a few feet away from Kane. He quickly moved forward and saluted to Kane. He looked scared, but stood firm.

"Yes?"

"…It's time to leave. We may have lost this time…but we're not done yet. Is EVE still online?" Kane asked, moving toward a door to the stairs down to the building.

"Yes sir…..EVE….li…..re…y……we…..s.h.a……be...gi….....man….die….."

The entire group of men moved away and Chaud could no longer hear them. Once they had all left the roof Chaud climbed off the back of the copter and steadied himself. Suddenly Chaud's PET began to beep.

Chaud pulled it out and looked at it with a smile. Zack's face was on the screen, and next to it was a man in a black pilot's helmet. Help had arrived.

"Mr. Blaze, this is the Netopian Security Officials, Shadow Division, it is an honor to meet you sir."

"Well, I'm pretty glad to see you too."

"A copter will be arriving for you in a matter of minutes. Your friends are being rescued as we speak."

Chaud smiled and looked up, a copter was moving toward him.

The fight was finally over.

It was time to go home.


	35. The End: Merry Christmas!

------------------------------------------------------------One Week Later------------------------------------------------------

It was over.

The Star Festival, along with the world, had been saved. All thanks to Lan and his friends, new and old.

The Officials had came to the rescue, and helped send everyone back home. One by one the team was broken apart, goodbyes were said, and thanks were shared.

Tyrell, Mei, and Lucia had taken Ambika to jail. With all of Dark Aero broken up, the three friends decided to start a new life outside of Netopia. Living in Netopia all their lives they had been devoted to Dark Aero, but now they had chosen to live in Electopia.

Tyrell had discarded his past of crime with Dark Aero, and settled into a peaceful home in the city with his sister Mei. Never again would the two of them have to face their dark past, for none knew about it aside from Lan and the others.

Lucia had moved to Den City, and after a short interview, got a job at SciLabs as an assistant to Dr. Hikari. After working for Dark Aero, Lucia has learned all about the latest technology, and seemed to enjoy the job. Now, as Dr. Hikari's assistant, things were looking up.

Dr. Hikari returned to work at SciLabs immediately. The Officials that had come to rescue them had helped them to retrieve the Crystals, but unfortunately much of the Crystals were destroyed by the explosions. Shards of the seven meteors were all that remained, ten times smaller than they had once been. So now the doctor had begun a new set of research. Finding out just what made the Crystals so powerful.

Chaud had returned to work as an Official, Zack along with him. The two of them immediately started a new team, Team Shadow Star, which that had the sole purpose of tracking down Sir Kane. He had immediately started looking into the strange name he had heard on the roof, "EVE." What was EVE? Who was EVE? And what did Kane have to do with it?

After saying goodbye to everyone, Lan and Maylu returned to ACDC Town. Amazingly, the Hikari House was back! Mrs. Hikari had worked together with the entire town to remove the ruble of the house and help to rebuild a new one. It had taken the entire time since the house fell, and a portion of the week of Lan's return, but the house was back. Many of the family's belongings had been lost, but Mrs. Hikari had moved on, and in her own opinion the house was better than before.

The Star Festival had come and went; none of the heroes went to it. They had all seen enough of the stars, that it had lost its thrill. So everyone just enjoyed their time at home.

Time has once again healed all the wounds from the battle.

Megaman, now with the power of the Control System, was able to help in the rebuilding of the Tournament Net Area, Star Hill Net Area, and Dark Aero Net Areas. The Net was in peace, and so was the real world.

Maylu and Lan had told no one, aside from their own parents, about what happened with Dark Aero. Which made it a surprise to the rest of the world when, the day after the Star Festival, the news had this as its main story:

"According to eye witness accounts, the Headquarters of the Netopian Research company called, Dark Aero, who had been working with SciLabs to create the Shadow of the Stars tournament and a new Net Navi system, was destroyed due to some sort of explosion. A group of helicopters landed at the building during the explosion and transported away a group of people from the building, shortly after a copter had left from the building minutes before.

The Dark Aero building was completely destroyed, and the Netopian Security Officials are now heading an investigation as to what might have caused such an explosion. They believe it is closely linked to the large energy reactor that Dark Aero held in their factory, which powered the entire complex, but no official reports have been made.

All we know is that the Dark Aero Company will be sincerely missed."

But today all of those horrid memories of Dark Aero would be forgotten as the whole world was running around in a daze.

It was Christmas Eve!

Lan Hikari was sitting in his room, a large box wrapped in bright paper in his hands. The box was white, with pink paper around it, bound together with a yellow bow and ribbon. A tag hung from the bow and read, "To: Maylu"

Megaman was in his PET, staring at his empty hands.

"So Megaman…do you think Maylu will like her gift?" Lan asked after a moment, still staring at the box.

Megaman chuckled. "That's the fourth time you've asked me that in the last five minutes, and yes. I'm sure she will love it, now will you please calm down!"

Lan sighed. "Sorry…I'm just nervous."

Megaman shrugged. "How nervous do you think I am? I don't even have a gift for Roll…"

"I thought you had already gotten her one."

"I did…but…I kinda…um…lost it…"

"You LOST Roll's gift!? Megaman! How in the world did you do that!?"

Megaman sighed. "I had bought it before the flight home…but I guess I left it on the plane or something…"

Lan burst into laughter. "Oh, you're gonna get it when Roll finds out!"

Megaman sighed and sat down. "I know…"

* * *

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

The entire Net, as well as the real world, was filled with activity. Parties, gatherings, outings, laughter, praying, it was Christmas!

As with every year, Lan and Megaman had been invited to Maylu's Christmas party. Everyone from school was there, and everyone was enjoying themselves.

Maylu was standing in the living room, a large table across from her with boxes covering it. These were the presents that would be opened once ALL the guests got there…and guess who was late.

Mrs. Sakuria was standing in the kitchen when Maylu walked over to her.

"Let me guess…Lan's late?" Mrs. Sakuria said with a smile.

"Just like every year…It's not like we don't live next to each other or anything… It takes him at least a minute to walk from his house to mine, and yet he's late!"

Mrs. Sakuria giggled and turned to Maylu.

"…Maylu, you're far too impatient."

"And, he's far too lazy…" Maylu said, walking away in frustration.

Mr. Sakuria turned to corner and entered the kitchen as Maylu stormed by.

"What's her problem?" he asked as he walked over to his wife.

"…Men…" Said Mrs. Sakuria as she sighed and turned away, back to the kitchen counter.

"What?"

Meanwhile next door, Lan Hikari was indeed late.

He was standing in his room, Megaman's PET at his side, the box in his hands.

"…I guess we should get going huh?"

"Yeah…We're already late."

Lan jumped. "What!? We're late!?"

"I told you we would be if you tried to take that nap! I can never get you to wake up in time!"

"Oh God! Maylu's gonna kill me!"

"Yes! And I'll help if you don't HURRY!"

* * *

The doorbell rang minutes later, and Maylu went over and answered the door. With a smile she looked and Lan, and then frowned as he smiled at her sheepishly.

"Hello Lan. Come in." Maylu said, with a large fake smile.

Lan nodded and entered, as he did he heard Maylu mutter. "You're late Hikari!"

"Sorry…." He whispered as he passed by, which made Maylu giggle.

Lan was always late…no matter how hard he tried…unless something involved curry or net battling…

Lan went over to a table and jacked Megaman into a computer that had been set up for just such reason. Then he went and put the present down on the table and moved over to Maylu, who was standing at the door still.

"Maylu, I'm really sorry…"

"That's what you said last year…and the year before that!"

Lan frowned and looked away.

"But I forgive you…" Maylu said with a smile.

Megaman ran over to a group of navis he saw in front of him, amazed to see them there. It was Mallory, Suki, and Demonman! They were talking with Roll!

"Hey!" Megaman said as he walked up.

"Ah, Megaman. Merry Christmas!" Suki said as she turned to see him.

"I see that you and Lan are late, as usual." Roll said with a giggle.

"Yeah…sorry Roll…" Megaman said, looking away with a slight blush. "So where are Tyrell, Mei, and Lucia? I didn't see them at Maylu's house."

"Sorry Megaman, they couldn't make it." Demonman said, his voice seeming to emit from nowhere.

"Oh well. I would have been nice to see them."

Suddenly Maylu's voice filled both the house in the real world, and the net.

"Everyone. We're going to start handing out gifts now, so go ahead and gather up your gifts please."

Demonman, Mallory, and Suki smiled and moved back.

"Well, we're gonna go help pass out gifts."

Roll smiled at Megaman.

"So Megaman…what did you get me?" Roll asked, blushing slightly as she noticed that she and Megaman where left alone.

"…Oh…Um…….I…." Megaman sighed, trying to think of the words.

Slowly he began to move away from Roll, toward an area where no one was around. Roll moved with him, nervously.

"You did get me something didn't you?" Roll said, her voice shaking slightly.

"Well Roll….I kinda….lo…t…" Megaman mumbled.

"What was that?" Roll asked.

"I lo…it"

"Huh?"

"I lost it!" Megaman said.

Roll seemed to tear up slightly.

"Oh…..y-you lost my gift?" Roll asked, in a quiet voice.

"…Yeah…I'm really sorry Roll. I promise I'll make it up to you!"

"……Oh…." Roll said, turning away from Megaman.

Megaman sighed.

"….I'm sorry too…" Roll said quietly, so quietly that Megaman almost didn't hear her.

"What are you sorry about?"

"…I forgot your present…I never bought it…" Roll said, and Megaman could see her shoulders shaking slightly as she started to cry.

"Roll…"

"I'm such an idiot…I completely forgot your gift, and when I WAS going to buy it…was when Dark Aero kidnapped me…"

Megaman put his hand on Roll's shoulder, and slowly the pink navi turned to him. Her face was streaked with tears and she looked away from him, but Megaman raised his hand to his cheek and turned her to face him.

Megaman's eyes sparkled as he gazed right at Roll. Slowly Megaman, using his own hand, whipped Roll's tears away. Roll smiled at him and giggled.

"…We don't need to give each other gifts Roll…that's not what Christmas is about. Christmas is about being with those we care about, and spending time with friends and family."

Roll smiled and hugged Megaman, who gently hugged back.

Suddenly the entire room burst into giggles.

Megaman and Roll turned to see Demonman, Mallory, Suki, and all their other friends standing there looking at them.

"W-What?" Megaman asked, blushing a little knowing that they had all seen the two navis.

"Look up!" Suki said as she burst into laughter again.

Slowly the two navis looked up, and turned as red as possible.

Hanging from the ceiling, right above them, was one piece of mistletoe, and everyone knows what two people do when they stand under mistletoe…

Megaman blushed and look at Roll with a smile.

"…Merry Christmas Roll."

"Merry Christmas Megaman…"

And with that Megaman pulled Roll close to him, and the two of them kissed.

The entire room burst into laughter, applause, and cheers.

Both human and navi guests all watched on and smiled.

Seconds later the kiss ended and Roll hugged to Megaman's neck. Megaman smiled and wrapped his arms around her.

Slowly Roll leaned toward Megaman's ear and whispered.

"…This was the best Christmas ever…"

AUTHOR NOTE

Hello everyone.

I would like to thank you all very much for reading this story, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.

But I cannot take all the credit for this story, no, I was not alone in making this.

I would like to personally thank my friend "loessie", who was the first Dark Aero turncoat, Lucia, for helping me get over my writers block, and allowing me to use her ideas in this story. She was the creator of all of the Dark Aero characters, and their stories, so it is her you must thank for the wondrous characters that made up the Dark Aero Company.

Without her help this story would not have been possible, so I credit it ALL to her.

Thank you all so much for reading.

And thank you, loessie, for your own hard work.

I hope to hear from you all really soon.

May happiness follow you all, wherever you go.

Sincerely,

Megaman Trigger 2.0


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